OMAHA NEBRASKA IN 2002

CXUS43 KOAX 012027
 CLMOMA

 YEARLY CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT 
 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
 227 PM CST WED JAN 1 2003

             OMAHA NEBRASKA IN 2002

 2002 WAS A WARMER THAN NORMAL YEAR AROUND OMAHA WITH BELOW NORMAL 
 PRECIPITATION.  SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR INCLUDED MILD WEATHER IN 
 THE WINTER...A COLD SPRING...HOT AND DRY EARLY SUMMER WEATHER...AND 
 DRY LATE AUTUMN WEATHER. 

 JANUARY AVERAGED 30.3 DEGREES...8.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  A HIGH 
 TEMPERATURE OF 68 ON THE 26TH WAS A DAILY RECORD...AND ONLY 1 DEGREE 
 BELOW THE RECORD FOR ALL OF JANUARY.  THERE WAS VERY LITTLE SNOW 
 UNTIL THE 30TH AND 31ST...WHEN A STORM DROPPED 5.8 INCHES.

 FEBRUARY WAS COLD AT THE BEGINNING AND END...WITH MILD WEATHER 
 SANDWICHED IN BETWEEN.  THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 32.1 WAS 
 4.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  A HIGH OF 68 ON THE 23RD WAS A RECORD FOR 
 THE DATE.  A LOW OF -2 ON THE 4TH WAS NOT A RECORD...BUT IT WAS THE 
 FIRST SUBZERO READING OF THE WINTER.  THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT 
 PRECIPITATION OF THE MONTH WAS 0.30 INCH ON THE 9TH AND 10TH...WHICH 
 AMOUNTED TO 2.2 INCHES OF SNOW.

 THE COLDEST WEATHER OF THE WINTER CAME IN EARLY MARCH.  THE MERCURY 
 DROPPED TO A RECORD 5 BELOW ON THE 3RD...AFTER A 5.2 INCH SNOW ON 
 THE 1ST AND 2ND.  THE HIGH ON THE 3RD WAS ONLY 10 ABOVE...BUT THE 
 MERCURY BOUNCED BACK TO 64 ONLY TWO DAYS LATER FOR THE WARMEST 
 READING OF THE MONTH.  ANOTHER SNOW STORM ON THE 24TH AND 25TH 
 BROUGHT 4.3 INCHES OF SNOW TO THE AIRPORT...BUT AMOUNTS VARIED UP TO 
 8.5 INCHES AT GRETNA WITH THIS STORM.  MARCH AS A WHOLE AVERAGED 
 33.0 DEGREES...BARELY WARMER THAN FEBRUARY...AND 6.3 DEGREES BELOW 
 NORMAL.  THE MARCH SNOWFALL TOTAL OF 11.1 INCHES WAS MORE THAN THE 
 REST OF THE WINTER COMBINED.  IT IS RARE FOR THE LOWEST WINTER 
 TEMPERATURE TO OCCUR IN MARCH...BUT IT HAPPENED EVEN LATER IN 1998 
 ON MARCH 12TH.

 APRIL WAS NEAR NORMAL FOR TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION.  AS OFTEN 
 HAPPENS...TEMPERATURES WERE QUITE VARIABLE DURING THE MONTH.  HIGHS 
 RANGED FROM 39 ON THE 3RD TO A RECORD 92 ON THE 15TH.  LOWS RANGED 
 FROM A NEAR-RECORD 19 ON BOTH THE 3RD AND 4TH TO A MILD 62 ON THE 
 15TH. 

 MAY WEATHER WAS COOL UNTIL THE FINAL WEEK.  THE MONTHLY AVERAGE OF 
 59.6 WAS 2.6 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL.  A LOW OF 36 ON THE 19TH SET A 
 DAILY RECORD...AND 37 ON THE 20TH TIED A RECORD.  A MAXIMUM 
 TEMPERATURE OF 55 ON THE 24TH WAS THE COOLEST ON RECORD FOR THAT 
 DAY.  RAINFALL WAS ABOUT NORMAL...AND WELL DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE 
 MONTH.

 AFTER SUMMER WEATHER BEGAN AT THE END OF MAY...BOTH JUNE AND JULY 
 WERE UNUSUALLY HOT AND DRY.  JUNE AVERAGED 77.3 DEGREES...5.1 
 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL FOR JUNE...AND EVEN WARMER THAN THE JULY NORMAL.
 THERE WERE NO DAILY RECORDS SET...BUT HIGHS WERE IN THE 90S ON 16 
 DAYS.  RAINFALL WAS SPOTTY AND WELL BELOW NORMAL...NEARLY ALL 
 FALLING ON THE 10TH AND 11TH.  EPPLEY AIRFIELD RECEIVED 2.08 INCHES 
 FOR THE MONTH...1.87 INCHES BELOW NORMAL.  MANY LOCATIONS HAD LESS.

 JULY AVERAGED 81.1 DEGREES...4.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  THIS WAS THE 
 HOTTEST CALENDAR MONTH SINCE 1983...AND THE HOTTEST JULY AVERAGE 
 SINCE 1974.  HIGH TEMPERATURES OF 104 ON BOTH THE 20TH AND 21ST WERE 
 THE HOTTEST OF THE SUMMER...AND NOT EXCEEDED SINCE 1995.  MONTHLY 
 RAINFALL WAS 2.70 INCHES...1.16 INCHES BELOW NORMAL.

 THE MERCURY REACHED 100 ON AUGUST 3RD...BUT COOLER AND WETTER 
 WEATHER AFTERWARDS PROVIDED SUBSTANTIAL RELIEF FROM THE EARLY SUMMER 
 DROUGHT.  AUGUST RAINFALL TOTALED 8.05 INCHES...4.84 INCHES ABOVE 
 NORMAL.  THIS WAS THE 4TH WETTEST AUGUST ON RECORD.

 WARM AND DRY WEATHER RETURNED IN THE FIRST PART OF SEPTEMBER...WITH 
 HIGHS FROM THE MID 80S TO THE MID 90S THROUGH THE 9TH.  THE MONTH AS 
 A WHOLE AVERAGED 68.1 DEGREES...2.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  RAINFALL 
 WAS ONLY 0.90 INCH...WHICH WAS 2.27 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. 

 TEMPERATURES DROPPED RAPIDLY IN OCTOBER...AND WERE WELL BELOW NORMAL 
 FOR MUCH OF THE MONTH.  CLOUDY AND WET WEATHER WAS ALSO COMMON. 
 RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES OF 34 OCCURRED ON BOTH THE 24TH AND 
 25TH.  THE OCTOBER AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 47.5 DEGREES WAS 5.7 
 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL.  THIS WAS THE 3RD COLDEST OCTOBER ON 
 RECORD...AND THE COLDEST SINCE 1925.  PRECIPITATION TOTALED 3.18 
 INCHES...0.97 INCH ABOVE NORMAL.  1.6 INCHES OF SNOW FELL ON THE 
 23RD...WITH SOME PARTS OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA RECEIVING 3 OR 4 
 INCHES. 

 NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER WERE BOTH VERY DRY.  NOVEMBER PRECIPITATION 
 TOTALED JUST 0.13 INCH...1.69 INCHES BELOW NORMAL.  SNOWFALL OF 1.5 
 INCHES FELL MOSTLY ON THE 26TH.  DECEMBER PRECIPITATION WAS ONLY A 
 TRACE...WHICH WAS 0.92 INCH BELOW NORMAL.  THIS TIED WITH 1943 FOR 
 THE DRIEST DECEMBER ON RECORD.  THE TWO MONTH TOTAL OF 0.13 INCH WAS 
 ALSO NEARLY A RECORD.  ONLY 0.11 INCH FELL IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 
 OF 1954.  TEMPERATURES WERE VERY CLOSE TO NORMAL IN NOVEMBER WITH NO 
 UNUSUAL EXTREMES...BUT DECEMBER WAS MILD.  THE MONTHLY AVERAGE WAS 
 32.1 DEGREES...6.5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  THE WARMEST TEMPERATURES 
 CAME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH.  THE HIGH OF 61 ON THE 15TH WAS A 
 RECORD FOR THE DATE.

                        2002 STATISTICS
           TEMPERATURE                   PRECIPITATION
 MONTH  AVG.  DEPART.  MAX  MIN      TOTAL  DEPART.  SNOW 
 JAN.  30.3    8.6     68    2       0.37   -0.40    6.6 
 FEB.  32.1    4.1     68   -2       0.30   -0.50    2.2 
 MAR.  33.0   -6.3     64   -5       0.84   -1.29   11.1 
 APR.  52.4    1.0     92   19       3.35    0.41      T 
 MAY   59.6   -2.6     94   34       4.16   -0.28      T 
 JUNE  77.3    5.1     98   53       2.08   -1.87      0 
 JULY  81.1    4.4    104   61       2.70   -1.16      T 
 AUG.  74.9    0.4    100   54       8.05    4.84      T
 SEP.  68.1    2.7     96   40       0.90   -2.27      0 
 OCT.  47.5   -5.7     86   23       3.18    0.97    1.6 
 NOV.  37.6   -0.4     71   12       0.13   -1.69    1.5 
 DEC.  32.1    6.5     61    9          T   -0.92      T 
 YEAR  52.2    1.5    104   -5      26.06   -4.16   23.0

            DEGREE DAYS
 MONTH  HEATING  DEPART.  COOLING  DEPART.
 JAN.     1072    -289         0        0
 FEB.      915    -152         0        0
 MAR.      985     167         0       -1
 APR.      400       2        27       13 
 MAY       221      57        62        2
 JUNE        0     -14       377      144
 JULY        0      -1       507      142
 AUG.        5      -1       322       26
 SEP.       69     -36       170       56
 OCT.      546     162         8       -4
 NOV.      816      10         0        0
 DEC.     1013    -198         0        0
 YEAR     6042    -293      1473      378

 JP/TL/SK/JEK
 

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