 Climate Monitoring / Climate of 1999 / Selected Extremes / Help
Selected U.S. City
and State Extremes December 1999
Source NOAA/NWS Forecast Offices and compiled by NCDC. Last Updated 01/05/00
 Temperature / Dewpoint
1. Minneapolis, MN set a record on December 4th as the latest date in the winter season without a minimum temperature 20 degrees or below. The previous record at the site (which dates their observations back to 1819) occurred in 1899 when the minimum temperature remained above 20 degrees until December 3rd.
2. Minneapolis, MN set a record on December 9th as the latest date in the winter season without a maximum temperature 32 degrees or below. The previous record at the site (which dates their observations back to 1819) occurred in 1830 when the maximum temperature remained above 32 degrees through December 8th.
3. On December 23, Juneau, AK tied their all-time December maximum temperature with a reading of 54 degrees. The record was originally set on December 12, 1944. In addition, the 46 degree minimum temperature on the same day sets a record for warmest minimum for December, exceeding the previous record of 45 degrees set on Christmas Day, 1989.
4. International Falls, MN experienced its warmest Christmas Day with a 45 degree maximum temperature, exceeding 1994's record of 43 degrees. This is also the warmest temperature ever recorded so late in the season at the site.
5. Cold Bay, AK recorded its coldest December on record with an average for the month of 21.2 degrees. The previous record was 25.8 degrees set in 1959.
6. Northway, AK set a record for December warmth when the temperature rose to 45 degrees on December 22. This not only shattered the old record of 20 degrees for the date, it was the first occurrence of a temperature in the 40s in December and is the highest recorded temperature for Northway for the period October 20 to February 22.
7. Nome, AK experienced its coldest December on record with an average temperature of -9.4 degrees or 15.9 degrees below normal.
8. With an average temperature of 1.6 degrees (13.6 degrees below normal), King Salmon, AK recorded its second coldest December. The record was set in 1954 with an average temperature of -1.3 degrees.
Rainfall
1. Phoenix, AZ set a record on December 23, 1999 for consecutive rainless days. This was the 92nd consecutive day without even a Trace of rain at the site. The last day of rainfall was September 22, 1999 when 0.10" fell. As of December 31, Phoenix was still rainless. This was not unusal...there have been 8 Decembers since 1895 that recorder no precipitation for the month. However, this is the first Oct-Nov-Dec period without any precipitation at Phoenix. The previous record, set in 1917, was a Trace for the 3-month period.
2. Juneau. AK experienced its second wettest December with 10.30". 2.67" fell on the 27th to set a calendar day record for December.
Snowfall
1. The record for the latest date of first measurable snowfall was set for Bismarck, ND on December 9. The old record for latest date was December 8, 1920 when 0.2" fell. As of the 9th only a Trace has been observed at this location. The first measurable snow for the season fell on December 16, 1999.
2. Only a Trace of snow fell at Portland, ME in December for the first time in 119 years of record-keeping. The previous least snowiest December was in 1957 when only 0.6" of snow fell. Also December 24, 1912 was the latest date of the first measurable snowfall and it will be in January 2000 before a new date is established. Thru December 31, there have been 290 days since the last date with measurable snow (March 16, 1999). The previous record of 263 days was set in 4 different years.
Wind
1. None reported yet.
Pressure
1. None Reported yet.
Miscellaneous
1. 1999 will go into the record books as a record year for tornadoes in Arkansas. As of December 10th, the preliminary count for the year is 107 tornadoes, easily breaking the previous record of 78 that occurred in 1982. The annual average number is 21.
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