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2014 Climate Review: Piedmont Had an Active Winter, Cool Summer

Corey Davis

Mar 12, 2015

NC Extremes: Storm of the Century Smashed Snowfall Records

This post is part of our year-long series about North Carolina’s weather extremes. An old adage says that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. But what about the middle of the month? It’s often in between our big winter weather events and our springtime severe weather events. However, in…

Mar 2, 2015

Fe-BRRRR-uary Was Cold and Wintry in NC

February may be the shortest month, but we packed in plenty of cold weather and frozen precipitation during the past 28 days. Coldest February in 35+ Years If you were born in the 80s or later or have moved to North Carolina since then, this was probably the coldest February you’ve ever felt in this…

Feb 26, 2015

Rapid Reaction: More Mixed Precipitation Blankets NC

The third widespread wintry event in less than two weeks painted a familiar picture across the state: Snow falling to the north and west, rain to the southeast, and a narrow band of mixed precipitation in between. The low pressure system responsible for this event began taking shape earlier in the week, when an upper-level…

Feb 25, 2015

NC Extremes: Arctic Air Masses Pack a High-Pressure Punch

This post is part of our year-long series about North Carolina’s weather extremes. When it comes to moving the mercury in barometers up to record-setting levels, nothing does the trick quite like a wintertime Arctic high pressure system. But before we get to North Carolina’s high pressure records, let’s briefly review air pressure, including how…

Feb 17, 2015

Rapid Reaction: Winter Awakens with a Round of Frozen Precip.

The first statewide wintry event of the season brought a mixed bag of precipitation types and left an icy glaze across parts of North Carolina. The mix of precipitation was no surprise with this system; it brought the same sort of conditions to our west as it approached the Appalachians: Alabama and Mississippi received mostly…

Feb 2, 2015

January Brought Near-Normal Conditions to NC

We started 2015 with average temperatures and precipitation that ranked near their normal values across the state. Statewide Temps Typical for January Up-and-down temperatures throughout the month averaged out to near-normal values. The preliminary statewide average temperature of 40.35°F ranks as the 56th-coolest January in 121 years of record. Most sites across the state finished…

Jan 21, 2015

NC Extremes: The Coldest Day Redefined Records

This is the first post in a year-long series documenting some of North Carolina’s weather extremes. Today’s post looks at the event that brought the coldest air on record to most of the state. They say that records are made to be broken. But on January 21, 1985, the temperatures were so frigid that this…

Jan 15, 2015

2014 Climate Review: Mountains Started Snowy, Finished Dry

This is the final part of our 2014 climate review. We wrap up our regional look around the state with the Mountains. Annual Overview Much like the Piedmont, the Mountains were on the cool and dry side in 2014. Specifically, the region had its 33rd-coolest and 31st-driest year since 1895. A few stations were particularly…

Jan 13, 2015

2014 Climate Review: Piedmont Had an Active Winter, Cool Summer

This is the third part of our 2014 climate review. After looking at statewide extremes and coastal variability, today we look at conditions in the Piedmont. Annual Overview Across the 34 Piedmont counties, the average temperature in 2014 was 57.97°F, which ranks as the 19th-coolest year since 1895. The average precipitation of 43.87 inches ranks…