Ithaca Climate Summary for December 2003

Temperature

• With an average temperature of 30.0 degrees, the month averaged 1.8 degrees warmer than normal.
• This December was 4.0 degrees warmer than December 2002, but 5.4 degrees cooler than December 2001.
• The first nine days of the month averaged 8.4 degrees colder than normal, but the last 9 days averaged 13.3 degrees warmer than normal.
• Four out of the last five months have been warmer than normal.
• The warmest temperature of the month was 58 degrees on the 29th.
• The coldest temperature of the month was 3 degrees on the 8th.

Precipitation

• The December precipitation total was 3.57 inches, which was 143% of normal.
• This was the wettest December since 1996.
• This was Ithaca's seventh consecutive wetter-than-normal month.
• The total precipitation for the last seven months (July-December) was 31.64 inches. This was the third wettest such period in 125 years of record and the wettest since 1977.
• The annual precipitation total of 44.40 inches was 7.69 inches more than normal. It was the most since 1996 and the 8th wettest year on record.

Snowfall

• Total snowfall for December was 28.3 inches, which was more than double the normal of 14 inches.
• More than a quarter inch of snow fell on eleven of the first twenty-one days of the month, but none after that.
• This was the snowiest December since 1997.
• The month's greatest daily snowfall was 8.5 inches, for the twenty-four hours ending at 8am on the 15th.
• In some of the surrounding communities, Groton had 29.9 inches and Freeville had 32.2 inches.
• There was a trace of snow on the ground on Christmas morning, but none through the end of the month.