Ithaca Annual Climate Summary for 1996

Temperature

• The average temperature for 1996 was 45.6 degrees. This was 0.3 degrees cooler than normal.
• The year had four months with significantly colder than normal temperatures (March, April, July and November) and three months that were significantly warmer than normal (June, August and December).
• The coldest temperature of the year was -16 degrees on January 6th.
• The hottest temperature was 93 degrees and came surprisingly early-May 19th.
• New daily maximum temperature records set in 1996:

		Date	 New Record      Old Record
		May 19       93          90 in 1911
		May 20       92          89 in 1959
		Dec. 1       59          58 in 1908

• New daily minimum temperature records set in 1996:

		Date 	 New Record       Old Record
		Jan. 6      -16          -15 in 1896
		Jan. 7       -9           -8 in 1942
		May 14       27           29 in 1883
		Oct. 5       25 (tie)     25 in 1965
		Oct. 15      27           28 in 1937
		

Precipitation

• Precipitation for the year totalled 47.76 inches, which was 12.36 inches above or 135% of normal.
• This was the wettest year since records began in 1880, breaking the old record of 46.87 inches set in 1958.
• The 1995 annual total of 29.10 inches was surpassed by mid-August this year and the entire year's total was 18.66 inches more than that of a year ago.
• Although no individual monthly records were set, 8 months (January, April, May, and each month from August through December) were significantly wetter than normal. The remaining 4 months were in the near-normal range.