This Winter Was Actually Warmer Than Last Winter
That statement may come as a shock to many people in Charlotte, including me. With just 3 days left in Meteorological winter (Dec-Feb) we are on pace for the 9th coldest in 72 years. Even though our records goes back 132 years here in Charlotte only the past 72 years has the temperature been taken at the airport. The official weather observation station was moved from an uptown location in 1939 to the airport location. Their combined record is 132 years but for continuity I only look at the current location at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
This Winter’s Summary 2010-2011
Wonder where this stacks up to last year? Last year was the 5th coldest in 72 years, here’s the list.
Coldest Winter’s in past 72 years
- 1976-1977 36.34°
- 1962-1963 37.72°
- 1939-1940 38.26°
- 1969-1970 38.26°
- 2009-2010 38.59° last winter
- 1977-1978 38.73°
- 1968-1969 38.8°
- 1963-1964 39.04°
- 2010-2011 39.15° this winter
- 1957-1958 39.49°
- 1978-1979 39.76°
- 1947-1948 39.78°
- 2003-2004 40.21°
Notice that even though this winter has seemed so cold and it really was. It’s going to end up being warmer than last winter which is #5 on the list. Another interesting note is that #13 on the list was just 7 years ago. This looks like there is in fact a 30 year cycle of cold winters around here. If you know much about the PDO then this will make sense. The last time we had a cycle of cold winters was in the late 1970s now we appear to be back into a similar pattern. We’ll have to see how next winter ends up.
