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Last month 2nd lowest for December snowfall
YOUNGSTOWN
If Mahoning Valley residents were dreaming of a white December, they were disappointed.
The total snowfall for last month was only 0.7 of an inch, the second-lowest snow accumulation for a December in the area’s recorded weather history, which goes back to 1897. There were only four days — Dec. 10, 17, 18 and 19 — in which snow fell, with 0.3 of an inch on Dec. 19 being the largest accumulation.
The area averages 15 inches of snow in December, according to National Weather Service statistics. In December 2013, the area got 20.5 inches of snow.
There were eight days in December 2013 in which it snowed more than it did during all of December 2014.
“It was not a very productive month for snow,” Martin Thompson, a hydrometeorological technician with the NWS in Cleveland, said of last month. “That’s a good thing.”
The Valley record for the least amount of snow for December is 1939 with 0.5 of an inch.
The lack of snow last month was all over northern Ohio. It was the least-snowiest December in Toledo and in the Akron-Canton area, the second least-snowiest in Mansfield and third least-snowiest December in Cleveland, with none of those locations reaching 1 inch last month, according to the weather service.
The NWS measures snowfall for the Valley at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna.
The temperature last month for the area also was higher than average for December.
Last month’s average temperature was 34.6 degrees — the 14th-warmest December on record. The average December temperature is 30.3 degrees.
The temperature reached at least 50 degrees five times last month, with the high of 60 degrees Dec. 1. It dropped below 20 degrees on only two days — 17 on Tuesday and 15 on Wednesday.
Last month came after a wintry November in which 11.6 inches of snow fell, the eighth-snowiest November on record, and an average temperature of 37.1 degrees, the 11th-coldest November for the area.
The weather service’s forecast for January states there’s an equal chance of temperatures and snowfall being average, above average and below average, Thompson said. On average, the area gets 16.6 inches of snow with an average temperature of 25.8 degrees in January.
The weekend forecast from the weather service states there’s a 100 percent chance of precipitation today with about a half inch to three-quarters of an inch of snow possible overnight and snow Sunday with less than 0.1 of precipitation possible. The low temperature for the weekend is expected to be around 16 degrees Sunday night.
On Monday, there’s a chance of snow flurries with a high of 20 degrees and a low of 10. There’s the potential for snow Tuesday with a high near 23 degrees and a low around 12. Those temperatures will seem nice in comparison to Wednesday, when the high is expected to be near 17 degrees and a low at night of 6 degrees with a chance of snow showers.