YEARLY CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE TUE JAN 1 2002

LINCOLN NEBRASKA IN 2001

2001 WAS A WARMER THAN NORMAL YEAR WITH ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION. 

JANUARY WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL.  MILD WEATHER BEGINNING ON THE 3RD MELTED THE DEEP SNOW COVER LEFT OVER FROM A COLD AND SNOWY DECEMBER. HOWEVER...WINTER WAS NOT OVER.  FEBRUARY SAW A RETURN TO COLD AND SNOWY WEATHER...WITH TEMPERATURES AS FAR BELOW NORMAL IN FEBRUARY AS THEY WERE ABOVE NORMAL IN JANUARY.  FEBRUARY SNOWFALL WAS 14.2 INCHES...THE MOST FOR THE MONTH SINCE 1971 AND THE 9TH HIGHEST ON RECORD.  MUCH OF THAT FELL IN A 10 INCH SNOWSTORM ON THE 8TH AND 9TH.  IN A STORM ON THE 23RD AND 24TH FREEZING RAIN CHANGED TO RAIN...THUNDERSTORMS...AND FINALLY ENDED WITH SNOW.  BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES CONTINUED FOR MUCH OF MARCH...BUT THE MONTH WAS DRY AND THE REMAINING SNOW MELTED EARLY IN THE MONTH.

APRIL WEATHER WAS MILD AND WINDY.  WIND GUSTS EXCEEDED 40 MPH ON 8 DAYS AND 50 MPH ON 5 DAYS.  THE STRONGEST WINDS OF THE MONTH CAME ON THE 7TH...WHEN WINDS GUSTED TO 63 MPH AT LINCOLN AIRPORT.  SCATTERED DAMAGE FROM THIS STORM INCLUDED ROOFING PEELED FROM THE CAPITOL DOME.  APRIL PRECIPITATION WAS ABOUT NORMAL...BUT MAY WAS A VERY WET MONTH.  THE RAINFALL TOTAL OF 10.16 INCHES WAS THE SECOND HIGHEST ON RECORD...AND 6.26 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE MONTH.  JUNE HAD MANY UPS AND DOWNS...BUT ENDED UP NEAR NORMAL FOR TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION.  THE WEATHER EVENT OF THE MONTH WAS AN F-4 TORNADO THAT PASSED TO THE WEST OF LINCOLN ON THE 13TH. 

SUMMER WAS HOT AND SULTRY AROUND LINCOLN...WITH ABOVE NORMAL 
TEMPERATURES IN BOTH JULY AND AUGUST.  THE HOTTEST TEMPERATURE OF THE YEAR WAS 102 ON JULY 6TH...BUT PERHAPS THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE WEATHER CAME FROM JULY 17TH THROUGH THE 24TH.  DURING THAT PERIOD...THE HUMIDITY WAS VERY OPPRESSIVE...AND THERE WERE MANY DAYS IN THE UPPER 90S.  HOT AND HUMID WEATHER CONTINUED WELL INTO AUGUST. DESPITE THE HUMIDITY...RAINFALL WAS WELL BELOW NORMAL IN BOTH JULY AND AUGUST.

TEMPERATURES WERE NEAR NORMAL IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER.  ENOUGH RAIN FELL IN SEPTEMBER TO MAKE UP FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER DRY SPELL.

LATE AUTUMN WAS REMARKABLY MILD.  WITH ONLY A FEW EXCEPTIONS... 
TEMPERATURES WERE ABOVE NORMAL FROM THE END OF OCTOBER UNTIL 
DECEMBER 22ND.  NOVEMBER AVERAGED 48.4 DEGREES...WHICH WAS 9.6 
DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND EASILY SURPASSED THE PREVIOUS RECORD.
DAILY RECORDS WERE SET WITH A HIGH OF 76 ON THE 15TH...AND LOWS OF 
54 ON THE 13TH AND 48 ON THE 23RD.  THE LOW OF 58 ON THE 14TH WAS 
THE WARMEST EVER RECORDED SO LATE IN THE SEASON.  A DAILY HIGH 
RECORD WAS TIED ON DECEMBER 4TH WITH 66 DEGREES.  PREDAWN 
TEMPERATURES HOVERED IN THE LOWER 60S ON THE 5TH...AMAZINGLY WARM FOR SO LATE IN THE SEASON...BEFORE A COLD FRONT BROUGHT 
THUNDERSTORMS AND COOLER TEMPERATURES.  THE MILD WEATHER DELAYED THE FIRST MEASURABLE SNOW UNTIL DECEMBER 18TH...VERY LATE BUT A LITTLE SHORT OF THE RECORD.  ALTHOUGH COLD WEATHER ARRIVED IN LATE DECEMBER...TEMPERATURES WERE NOT EXTREME.  THE FIRST ZERO READING OF THE SEASON CAME ON THE LAST DAY OF 2001. 

                      2001 STATISTICS
          TEMPERATURE                   PRECIPITATION
MONTH  AVG.  DEPART.  MAX  MIN      TOTAL  DEPART.  SNOW 
JAN.   26.6    5.3     53   -8       0.89    0.35    5.5 
FEB.   21.3   -5.3     47  -11       1.82    1.10   14.2
MAR.   36.1   -2.5     64   11       1.32   -0.77    0.2 
APR.   54.8    3.1     86   24       2.68   -0.08      0
MAY    63.9    1.8     93   43      10.16    6.26      0 
JUNE   71.3   -1.5     96   47       3.55   -0.34      T
JULY   79.8    1.6    102   58       1.49   -1.71      0
AUG.   76.5    1.5    100   51       1.26   -2.15      0
SEP.   65.4    0.1     96   34       5.83    2.35      T
OCT.   53.2   -0.4     86   21       1.25   -0.87      0
NOV.   48.4    9.6     77   22       1.72    0.45      T 
DEC.   32.5    6.9     66    0       0.34   -0.54    1.9 
YEAR   52.5    1.7    102  -11      32.31    4.05   21.8

           DEGREE DAYS
MONTH  HEATING  DEPART.  COOLING  DEPART.
JAN.    1184    -171          0        0
FEB.    1219     144          0        0
MAR.     891      73          0        0
APR.     317     -82         19       19
MAY      113     -48         87       15
JUNE      30      19        227       -9
JULY       0       0        469       60 
AUG.       0      -9        363       44
SEP.      85       4        104       14
OCT.     369       7         10        2
NOV.     492    -294          0        0
DEC.    1000    -221          0        0
YEAR                       1279      145