December 2025 OBS and Discussion

[MJO812]

Patience

[North and West]

wow a dusting. meanwhile in 2003:

2003? Pssh. We should be in despair that the whippersnappers don’t recall 1779.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/washingtons-encampment-morristown-new-jersey-and-hard-winter-1779-1780


.

[Jersey_Snowhole]

14 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Patience

Every year is patience. Expect cold an suppression 

[SACRUS]

 

34 / 29 clouds here after some frz drizzle.  Perhaps some clearing later but back to clouds tomorrow.  Overall cold the next 10 days to 12 days with the coldest much below normal Dec 8, Dec 13 - 16 with the next storm threat (frozen) Dec 12 - Dec 15, otherwise - dry.   Moderating beyond there and perhaps pushing a period of above normal towards the 20th.

 

[SACRUS]

Records:

Highs:

EWR: 74 (2001)
NYC: 71 (2001)
LGA: 72 (2001)
JFK: 70 (2001)

 

 

Lows:

EWR: 17 (1954)
NYC: 11 (1871)
LGA: 18 (1942)
JFK: 21 (2007)

 

Historical:

 

1886 - A great snowstorm hit the southern Appalachain Mountains. The three day storm produced 25 inches at Rome GA, 33 inches at Asheville NC, and 42 inches in the mountains. Montgomery AL received a record eleven inches of snow. Columbia SC received one to two inches of sleet. (4th-6th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)

 

1913:A snowstorm from December 1st through the 6th dumps a record total of 45.7 inches in Denver, Colorado. This storm produced the most snow ever recorded in a single Denver snowstorm.

1926: On December 4th through the 6th 13.1 inches of snow fell over the Boston, Massachusetts area. (Ref. NOAA Boston Weather Events)

1950: A winter storm brought heavy snow to parts of the northern Plains and Midwest. Duluth, MN set their 24-hour snowfall record with 25.4 inches. Otherwise snowfall amounts generally ranged from 6 to 12 inches. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)
 

1970 - A windstorm toppled the National Christmas Tree at the White House. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)

 

1970:The National Christmas tree in 1970 was a 78 foot spruce from South Dakota. On the way to Washington, the train carrying the tree derailed twice in Nebraska. On the weekend before the lighting event, the tree toppled in gusty winds and required new branches to fill it out.

1972: Most of the country was under the influence of a massive deep upper level trough. Florida escaped the deep freeze with record high temperatures courtesy of an upper level ridge extending from off the southeast coast into the northern Caribbean. Some of the coldest December temperatures in history was recorded with some low temperatures well into the 20’s and 30’s below zero. Record low temperatures for the date included: Roundup, MT: -35 °F (also occurring two days later), Broadus, MT: -32 °F, Havre, MT: -31 °F, Medicine Bow, WY: -31 °F, Helena, MT: -30 °F, Williston, ND: -30 °F, Aberdeen, SD: -30 °F, Rochester, MN: -28 °F, Bismarck, ND: -28 °F, Sheridan, WY: -28 °F (broke previous record by 15 degrees), Miles City, MT: -27 °F, St. Cloud, MN: -27 °F, Fargo, ND: -26 °F, Lander, WY: -26 °F (broke previous record by 11 degrees)
Escaping the relentless cold, locations in Florida reported record high temperatures for the date including: West Palm Beach, FL: 87 °F, Fort Myers, FL: 86 °F, Orlando, FL: 86 °F and Daytona Beach, FL: 85 °F. (Ref. Wilson - Additional Temperatures Listed On This Link)

1981: On December 5th through the 6th 12.9 inches of snow fell over the Boston, Massachusetts area. (Ref. NOAA Boston Weather Events)

1982: High pressure off the East Coast brought record high temperatures from parts of the Ohio Valley to the East Coast including: Orlando, FL: 86 °F-Tied, Cape Hatteras, NC: 77 °F, (then)  Newark, NJ: 72 °F, Boston, MA: 70 °F (followed by a record high December minimum of 57 °F), Harrisburg, PA: 70 °F, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 70 °F, Wilmington, DE: 69 °F, New York (Central Park), NY: 68 °F, Syracuse, NY: 68 °F, Hartford, CT: 67 °F. (Ref. Wilson - Additional Temperatures Listed On This Link)
Boston, Massachusetts had a 57 °F (again) the warmest low temperature for the month of December. (Ref. NOAA Boston Weather Events)

1987 - Another in a series of storms brought high winds and heavy rain to the northwestern U.S., with heavy snow in some of the higher elevations. In northern California, Crescent City was drenched with 2.58 inches of rain, and winds gusted to 90 mph. Up to fourteen inches of snow blanketed the mountains of northern California, and snow and high winds created blizzard conditions around Lake Tahoe NV. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1988 - The morning low at Bismarck, ND, was eleven degrees warmer than the record low of 25 degrees at Meridian MS, and during the afternoon half a dozen cities in the north central and northwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Alpena MI with a reading of 57 degrees. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Heavy snow blanketed the Central Rocky Mountain Region. Totals in the southern foothills of Colorado ranged up to 17 inches at Rye. Arctic air invaded the north central U.S. Lincoln NE, which reported a record high of 69 degrees the previous afternoon, was 35 degrees colder. International Falls MN was the cold spot in the nation with a morning low of 9 degrees below zero, and temperatures in northern Minnesota hovered near zero through the daylight hours. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1994: An intense winter storm blasted areas of the south-central Plains to the Midwest bringing everything from ice to heavy snow. A significant ice storm struck much of southwest Kansas coating surfaces with one half to 1 inch of ice. A tremendous amount of tree damage occurred. One traffic fatality was blamed on icy roads. A heavy snow and ice event covered most of the northern two-thirds of Iowa. Much of the southern third of Iowa received freezing rain and sleet bringing down many trees and tree limbs as well as numerous power lines. At one time or another, nearly 300,000 residents lost power, some for as long as four days. To the north of the ice, heavy snow fell with 6 to 12 inches common. Dubuque and Ames received nearly a foot. Damage was well into the millions of dollars across the state of Iowa from this event. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1996: A tightly wrapped 29.23 inches of mercury low dumped unexpected heavy wet snow over eastern Pennsylvania, southeastern New York, and southern New England. Snowfall totals included 19 inches at Tobyhanna, PA, 18 inches at Cornwall, CT, 17.6 inches at Worthington, MA, and 16 inches at East Jewett, NY. Winds gusted to 75 mph at Nantucket, MA and to nearly 100 mph offshore from a ship on Georges Bank. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1998: The highest temperature ever recorded in Richmond, VA in December was 81 °F that occurred on two dates. The other date is December 7th in 1998.(Ref. Richmond Weather Records KRIC)
One of the worst cold season long lasting wind storm to ever recorded hit northern Indiana and northwest Ohio. Strong storms damaged a house in Elkhart, blew down trees and power lines in Markle, and spread 70 to 100 mph winds throughout northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. 82 mph winds were observed at Grissom Air Reserve Base, where the roof was ripped off of a warehouse. Widespread damage to structures, trees and power lines were reported. Phoenix, AZ saw their first snow since 1994 and Las Vegas picked up its heaviest snow since 1967 with 2 inches. Over 45 accidents were reported in just a 3 hour period. A tremendous upper level ridge brought widespread record highs from the Plains to the East Coast. The following locations in Wisconsin recorded their highest December temperatures: Platteville, WI: 64 °F, Richland Center, WI: 64 °F and Mauston, WI: 63 °F. Other daily record highs included: Brownsville, TX: 85 °F-Tied, Tampa, FL: 83 °F-Tied, Augusta, GA: 82 °F, Columbia, SC: 82 °F, Wilmington, NC: 81 °F, Charleston, SC: 81 °F, Richmond, VA: 81 °F, New Orleans, LA: 81 °F-Tied, Shreveport, LA: 81 °F-Tied, Savannah, GA: 80 °F, Raleigh, NC: 80 °F, Roanoke, VA: 80 °F, Galveston, TX: 79 °F, Pensacola, FL: 79 °F, Norfolk, VA: 79 °F, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 79 °F, Washington, DC: 78 °F, Charlotte, NC: 78 °F, Lynchburg, VA: 78 °F, Baltimore, MD: 77 °F, Charleston, WV: 75 °F, Huntington, WV: 75 °F-Tied, Cincinnati, OH: 73 °F, Asheville, NC: 73 °F-Tied, Lexington, KY: 72 °F, Dayton, OH: 72 °F, Elkins, WV: 70 °F-Tied. (Ref. Wilson - Additional Temperatures Listed On This Link)

2001: The ridge off the southeast coast held a cold front at bay bringing one more day of record warm temperatures. Atop Mount Washington, NH (elevation 6,288 feet), the temperature reached 47 °F, setting their highest temperature ever recorded in the month of December. Other daily record highs included: Tampa, FL: 83 °F-Tied, Atlanta, GA: 75 °F, Hartford, CT: 74 °F, Newark, NJ: 74 °F, Atlantic City, NJ: 73 °F, Wilmington, DE: 72 °F, Boston, MA: 72 °F, Concord, NH: 72 °F, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 72 °F, Syracuse, NY: 72 °F, Philadelphia, PA: 72 °F, Providence, RI: 72 °F, Wallops Island, VA: 72 °F, Portland, ME: 71 °F (broke previous record by 10 degrees), New York (Central Park), NY: 71 °F, Milton, MA: 70 °F, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 70 °F. (Ref. Wilson - Additional Temperatures Listed On This Link)

 

[ForestHillWx]

Snow clinging to tree limbs out this way.

My kids ran into my bedroom at 6:45 to wake me up and tell me it snowed. It’s just something about snow… 

[NEG NAO]

46 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Patience

would be nice if you explained what "patience" means to you ?

 

[jm1220]

54 minutes ago, the_other_guy said:

Wasnt that the dual snow storm/“blizzard” that was very unblizzard like?

A borderline top tier event in Long Beach-altogether I think there was 12-14” there. The 12/5 portion was a huge surprise because the initial overrunning was supposed to be quick snow to rain but stayed all heavy snow (back in the good old days when primary lows transferred to the coast before they torched us). There was 7-8” that day and another 6” with the coastal storm part. Parts of LI under heavier banding ended with 20”. Closer to the city the banding was more spotty and I remember some lulls. 

[MANDA]

12 hours ago, psv88 said:

We have 1.30” of rain already in December and it was a pretty wet November with 2.50” of rain. The ground is muddy and we aren’t in a very dry pattern.

That may be true for most of L.I. but a different story out this way and in the watershed areas.  

Only .65" for the month here and that total is not going anywhere fast over the next week at least.

[MANDA]

Picked up .20" snowfall overnight.  Melted total .02".

Looks festive while it lasts.  I am on a nickle and dime ride to 1" for the season.  Currently .7".

[cleetussnow]

14 hours ago, jm1220 said:

I’m going away from 12/19-23, guaranteed the Dec storm that gets Central Park over 4” happens then. 

Just back in time for the 60 degree cutter!

[happyclam13]

30 minutes ago, NEG NAO said:

would be nice if you explained what "patience" means to you ?

 

It means it could snow again this decade so just be patient. 

[psv88]

So far it has snowed 3 times this winter and we’ve had no accumulation to show for it. Maybe we had some slush on the grass earlier but I was asleep. So three trace days. Pretty bad 

[bluewave]

53 minutes ago, jm1220 said:

A borderline top tier event in Long Beach-altogether I think there was 12-14” there. The 12/5 portion was a huge surprise because the initial overrunning was supposed to be quick snow to rain but stayed all heavy snow (back in the good old days when primary lows transferred to the coast before they torched us). There was 7-8” that day and another 6” with the coastal storm part. Parts of LI under heavier banding ended with 20”. Closer to the city the banding was more spotty and I remember some lulls. 

That long duration event helped Newark to reach the 6th snowiest calendar year since the 1840s.

 

Time Series Summary for NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP, NJ - Jan through Dec top 10 highest calendar year snowfall
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.

1	1907	73.1	123
2	1867	72.0	0
3	1868	68.8	0
4	1978	65.8	0
5	1961	63.5	0
6	2003	63.3	0
7	1854	62.8	0
8	1916	62.7	31
9	1996	62.6	0
-	1862	62.6	0
10	1896	61.4	2

[Eduardo]

1 hour ago, jm1220 said:

A borderline top tier event in Long Beach-altogether I think there was 12-14” there. The 12/5 portion was a huge surprise because the initial overrunning was supposed to be quick snow to rain but stayed all heavy snow (back in the good old days when primary lows transferred to the coast before they torched us). There was 7-8” that day and another 6” with the coastal storm part. Parts of LI under heavier banding ended with 20”. Closer to the city the banding was more spotty and I remember some lulls. 

I distinctly remember you and I on the Bill Evans board discussing this exact surprise on that day.  

[Dark Star]

1 hour ago, MJO812 said:

Patience

I never did learn how to read these things...

[Dark Star]

40 minutes ago, psv88 said:

So far it has snowed 3 times this winter and we’ve had no accumulation to show for it. Maybe we had some slush on the grass earlier but I was asleep. So three trace days. Pretty bad 

Actually, I'll take the sugar coating from early this morning.  No snow on the streets, but that didnt stop the Garwood DPW from salting.  While the Garwood DPW always does a great job plowing, they HAVE to stop salting, unless absolutely necessary...

[Dark Star]

48 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Just back in time for the 60 degree cutter!

So many late 70's cutters.  Even in Coal Country in NE Pennsylvania, saw many a New Year's Eve storm start out as snow, but eventually change over to a plain rain...

[MJO812]

Nice storm for the 12th. We have to watch that storm

 

[qg_omega]

1 hour ago, MANDA said:

That may be true for most of L.I. but a different story out this way and in the watershed areas.  

Only .65" for the month here and that total is not going anywhere fast over the next week at least.

Zero drought here, grass is muddy

[NEG NAO]

18 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Nice storm for the 12th. We have to watch that storm

 

Borderline temps - could be similar to last weeks event - need any HP in southeast Canada to stay in place with blocking - not showing that yet - just a LP departing up there

[bluewave]

10 minutes ago, qg_omega said:

Zero drought here, grass is muddy

Some reservoirs in NNJ dipping under 50% with the below normal rainfall since the fall of 2024.

https://dep.nj.gov/drought/current-conditions/#reservoir-levels

 

 

[SnoSki14]

17 minutes ago, qg_omega said:

Zero drought here, grass is muddy

That doesn't mean there's no drought or low reservoirs

[MJO812]

17 minutes ago, NEG NAO said:

Borderline temps - could be similar to last weeks event - need any HP in southeast Canada to stay in place with blocking - not showing that yet - just a LP departing up there

Plenty of cold air

[jm1220]

4 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Plenty of cold air

I’m not really paying attention to it at this point but a similar setup to last week would mean more rain coast/snow inland. If we’re blasted with southerly winds ahead of any storm it will rain in the city. Waters are still way too warm to allow snow with onshore flow in mid December-still around 50 at Jones Beach. We can maybe get away with it in Feb when waters are coldest for the year. 

[NEG NAO]

4 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Plenty of cold air

Show us the guidance that shows that on the 12th

[MJO812]

15 minutes ago, NEG NAO said:

Show us the guidance that shows that on the 12th

So you are believing the guidance as it is on right now ? We are in phase 8. Some of you are gloom and doom all the time. 

How many times have the models showed nothing until it got closer ? Phase 8 promotes storming.

Our time is coming 

[MJO812]

17 minutes ago, jm1220 said:

I’m not really paying attention to it at this point but a similar setup to last week would mean more rain coast/snow inland. If we’re blasted with southerly winds ahead of any storm it will rain in the city. Waters are still way too warm to allow snow with onshore flow in mid December-still around 50 at Jones Beach. We can maybe get away with it in Feb when waters are coldest for the year. 

Definitely but we will be playing with more cold air this time.

[North and West]

Nice storm for the 12th. We have to watch that storm
 

.

[anthonymm]

Cold dry warm wet. If we don't have HP the north then Dec 12 will be rain for the city. If we do it'll suppress south to Virginia. NYC metro is a really unlucky spot now for snow. Too south for the marginal/interior tracks, too north for the supressively cold tracks. Only way to get snow now is with benchmark tracks, which not even the fantasy GFS is showing. Likely <3" December---> low snow winter #4 of the 2020s.