Interesting weather data from NWS MQT

[Attak man]

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nous43 kmqt 191445
pnsmqt

climatological report
national weather service marquette mi
945 am est sun feb 18 2012

...warm with below normal snow the first half of the winter season...

A prevailing west-to-east flow of relatively mild pacific air has
dominated the weather across the upper great lakes from october into
february. In fact...the october 2011 through january 2012 mean
temperature averaged 3 to 5 degrees above normal. This 4-month
stretch is now among the top ten warmest october through january
periods on record at most places in west and central upper michigan.

Since this zonal flow has limited the number of arctic air
invasions...lake effect snow has also been below average. At
marquette...the 31.1 inches of snow that accumulated this past
october through january is the fifth lowest for that period since
1885. Seasonal snowfall through january is also well below normal at
all other locations.

...october-january average temperature...

Observed normal departure record rank

marquette nws 29.8 26.4 +3.4 31.3 /2001-02/ 2nd warmest

newberry 34.3 29.5 +4.8 35.2 /2001-02/ 3rd warmest

houghton 32.1 27.6 +4.5 35.1 /1931-32/ 3rd warmest

munising 33.3 30.1 +3.2 34.9 /2001-02/ 4th warmest

iron mountain 31.6 27.5 +4.1 34.2 /2001-02/ 5th warmest

marquette city 35.2 31.1 +4.1 38.8 /1931-32/ 6th warmest

manistique 33.4 30.2 +3.2 35.3 /2001-02/ 6th warmest

ironwood 30.2 25.3 +4.9 34.3 /1931-32/ 8th warmest

...october-january snowfall...

Observed normal departure record rank

marquette city 31.1 66.7 -35.6 26.9 /1943-44/ 5th lowest

manistique 26.0 45.0 -19.0 8.7 /1899-00/ 8th lowest

munising 63.9 108.1 -44.2 41.3 /1994-95/ 13th lowest

iron mountain 23.5 33.8 -10.3 6.3 /1960-61/ 20th lowest

houghton 104.6 148.8 -44.2 36.0 /1913-14/ ****

ironwood 86.0 121.8 -35.8 34.1 /1923-24/ ****

marquette nws 93.9 116.5 -22.6 47.4 /1962-63/ ****

**** rank not in top 25
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all climate data listed in this product are unofficial. For official
data...please refer to the national climatic data center.

Nws marquette web page is at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mqt/index.htm
(all lower case). Contact the national climatic data center at (828)
271-4800 or www.ncdc.noaa.gov.

Kc

[renegade]

Not much of a surprise, but the word normal and weather had always bothered me. Is there such a thing as normal weather? Then when weather isn't "normal" people become alarmed and want to find a reason, and the ball begins to roll.

[frnash]

Not much of a surprise, but the word normal and weather had always bothered me. Is there such a thing as normal weather? Then when weather isn't "normal" people become alarmed and want to find a reason, and the ball begins to roll.

Yes there is. Normal, NWS definition:

Normal

The long term average value of a meterorlogical parameter (i.e. temperature, humidity, etc.) for a certain area. For example, "temperatures are normal for this time of year" means that temperatures are at or near the average climatological value for the given date. Normals are usually taken from data averaged over a 30-year period (e.g. 1971-2000 average), and are concerned with the distribution of data within limits of common occurrence.

In short, a thirty-year average through the end of the last decade.

The current normals for the Marquette NWS office, 7 miles west of the City of Marquette (Negaunee Township) for the period from 1971-2000 may be found (click → ) here.

[arcticgeorge]

This was in the paper today. Strange that the warmest winter on record in Ironwood was the winter of 1931/ 1932....Long before..you know.

[favoritos]

This was in the paper today. Strange that the warmest winter on record in Ironwood was the winter of 1931/ 1932....Long before..you know.

Strange that it also preceded a major financial calamity.

But those were also the dust bowl days.

Noticed that it is warm again. Little grumpy

[renegade]

I hope we are not headed to a dust bowl!