December was warmer than normal and drier with some new spots in the weather records

December 2014 was only the fourth time in Clinton weather records there was no measurable snow in a December. ‘Read more’ for the details on the month.

Official Weather Observer Jim Blaess said 1971 – 1894 and 1889 were the only other times there was no measurable snow in a December in records to the late 1800’s.
He said normally here is 8.3 inches of snow in the month.

Precipitation for December was .66 of an inch which Blaess said was below the normal of 1.91 inches inches. He said it was 13th driest December since the records to 1878.

The month also was warmer than usual. Blaess said the overall temperature was 30.9 degrees and that is slightly more than 4 degrees above the average of 26.5. The weather observer added there was one day with zero or below temperatures. That was a low of zero on the 31st. Normally there are 3 days of zero weather in December.

While December was warmer than usual, Blaess says the overall average temperature for 2014 was 47.6 degrees and that is more than two degrees below the normal of 50.1 for the year.
Blaess said it was the coldest year since 1962 and the 6th coldest overall since 1893.

Precipitation for 2014 was just under 36 inches (35.88 inches) and was about an inch and a half above normal (34.37) for the 12 months.

For January, Blaess said you can expect about one and a half inches (1.45) of precipitation that includes
9.4 inches of snow. The weather observer said there is an average of 5 days with zero or below weather in the month.

About Dave Vickers

Dave has been News Director since 1983 and has been Station General Manager since 1999. Dave has also served on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Broadcast News Association and the Iowa Broadcast Association and has served on the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.
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