January 2013 U.S. Weather Summary The New Year began with more than 60% of the contiguous states having snow cover which slowly retreated during the first week of January. With the widespread snow cover, Arctic air made inroads across the Northeast dropping temperatures below zero from western Pennsylvania to Maine on the morning of the 3rd. Meanwhile, in the summer hemisphere, a blistering heat wave in southeast Australia caused contributed to devastating brush fires in Tasmania. Readings topped 108 at Hobart and 107 in Sydney. A winter storm brought several inches of wet snow to the western panhandle and Big Bend region of Texas on January 4th. Yet another southern branch disturbance dropped more snow in the same area on the 9th. This same storm triggered thunderstorms along the western Gulf Coast and the first three twisters of the year in Louisiana before lifting northward into the Plains. Some of the rain lessened the need for releases of new water on the lower Mississippi River which was at historic low levels. Meanwhile, a powerful tropical cyclone brushed the northwest coast of Australia before weakening and moving inland on the 12th and a push of polar air combined with a rich supply of moisture to produce the heaviest snowfall in Jerusalem since 1992. Meanwhile, a surge of record chill set dozens of record lows in the Southwest during the second weekend of January. This bitter cold air damaged the citrus crop in southern California and brought readings as low as -36F in the high valleys of central Colorado. A powerful disturbance over Texas, after causing more flooding in Louisiana, then brought a swath of wet snow across the central Gulf states and more than a foot of snow to the south-central Appalachians on the 17th. Meanwhile, a bout of wintry weather overtook northwest Europe snarling traffic in the UK with many flights cancelled out of London during the weekend of Jan 19-20. The icy chill invaded France and the Low Countries and frigid conditions were also noted in northeast China. The coldest air mass in several years oozed southward from Canada into the Midwest and Northeast causing heavy lake effect snow squalls that crippled Erie for more than a day. At the same time, warmth returned to the Rockies as readings rose to record levels in several cities on the 24th. A fast-moving disturbance brought a wintry covering of 2-5 inches to parts of southeast Virginia and northern North Carolina on the 25th. The pattern then shifted to allow heavy showers to reach the Southwest forcing the emergency evacuation of several dozen hikers near Tucson due to flash flooding. In the other hemisphere, a bout of heavy rain caused massive flooding in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales – this coming just after extreme heat and fires had scorched the region. A powerful tropical cyclone turned sharply south toward Madagascar at the month’s end. January concluded with a powerful cold front triggering numerous straight line wind damage across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and the first tornado fatility in 6 months. Record warmth preceded the front in the East. Overall, the first month of 2013 was mild east of the Rockies and frigid in the Great Basin. January was rather wet from Texas to the central Great Lakes and quite dry in the Far West and Southeast.

The second month opened with predictions of an early spring (for only the 16th time) from Punxsutawney Phil on February 2nd. However, the atmosphere had different thoughts, at least for the Northeast coast where a blizzard struck on the 8th-9th. The area from central New Jersey to northern Maine received more than 6 inches of snow and a maximum of 40 inches was tallied in central Connecticut. Portland, Maine had its largest single day snowfall with just shy of 32 inches. Needless to say, traffic in all forms snarled to a halt and it took a few days to dig out. Meanwhile, a fast-moving storm in the Mississippi Valley spread heavy snow from Nebraska to Minnesota and spawned a powerful twister that ravaged Hattiesburg, Mississippi on the 10th. The same disturbance spread an icy mixture in the Northeast on the 11th. Another fast-moving storm dumped a swath of heavy wet snow from the Texas panhandle to central Pennsylvania on the 13th. A push of polar air into the nation was preceded by a band of snow in the Ohio Valley and eventually along the New England coast which raised the snow tally to over 32 inches so far in February at Boston. In the wake of the storm, there was a smattering of record minimum in the Deep South. Another disturbance brought back bitter air to the northern Plains and an outbreak of severe weather, mainly hail damage, to the lower Mississippi Valley on the 18th. The next is a series of disturbances from the eastern Pacific spun up large winter storm in the Plains that brought travel to a halt in the central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley. The largest snowstorm in 20 years descended on eastern Kansas and Missouri on the 21st. Meanwhile, a slow-moving, but powerful disturbance in the eastern Mediterranean caused the worst flooding around Athens, Greece in nearly 50 years on the 22nd. For the third consecutive weekend, heavy snow fell in eastern New England with more than ten inches at Concord and Portland. At the same time, a powerful storm in the southwest Plains brought between 6 and 12 inches of snow to Denver on the 24th and then turned into a raging blizzard from the Texas panhandle to eastern Kansas on the 25th. As the storm migrated to the Northeast, a sloppy wintry mixture fell in the central and northern Appalachians. As February concluded, clouds covered much of the northern and eastern two-thirds of the country. February 2013 had numerous wide swings in temperatures from coast to coast, but when the month ended, the tally showed cooler than average weather in the Southwest and upper Midwest and slightly cooler than average in the Ohio Valley, Appalachians and mid-Atlantic region. It was rather mild along the Gulf Coast, in Texas and the northern Rockies and in northern New England. Precipitation was piecemeal with much needed rain in the eastern Gulf States and Southeast and a generally moist pattern from the Texas panhandle to the central Great Lakes. Parts of eastern New England were wet, but a large portion of the upper Tennessee and Ohio Valleys as well as the central Appalachians were dry as was most of Texas and the area west of the continental divide.

The third month of the year began chilly, though lamb-like with little storminess. But it was not long until a potent disturbance drove southeastward from the Dakotas to the Virginia capes spreading a blanket of 5-10 inches of snow from near Fargo to west of Washington DC. Parts of northern Virginia tallied 20 inches of wet snow. A second disturbance then merged with the coastal storm to produce another swath of heavy snow from Long Island to southern Maine. The suburbs of Boston measured more than 20 inches and wind and waves along the coast caused more erosion. A moist disturbance coming inland in southern California brought snow to the southern and eastern Rockies and then a swath of heavy wet snow from Nebraska to upper Michigan. A band of thundershowers drenched the deep South and triggered severe weather in the southern Plains on March 10-11th. On the other side of the Atlantic, cold and moist weather overtook much of northwest Europe with snow in parts of France and the Low Countries and gales along the Irish coast. Paris had its largest snowfall in twenty years. Chilly weather settled into the eastern half of the nation with a handful of record lows in Texas on the 12th. But heat swelled into the Southwest as Thermal, California reached 100F for the first such reading in 2013 in the contiguous states. As very mild, dry weather surged into the high Plains and the upper Piedmont plateau, a number of brush fires spun up causing serious damage near Fort Collins and Columbia during St. Patrick’s Day weekend. A large, but sluggish storm brought heavy snow to the upper Midwest and another swath of 3-6 inches of snow from central Pennsylvania to central New England. This was followed by very cold conditions with a swatch of record minimum. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a bruising blizzard buried much of northern Ireland and central England with gales on the coast and several meter deep drifts in the hill country. Even the cliffs of Dover suffered as did the dikes of the Netherlands. A powerful early spring snowstorm dropped more than 10 inches of snow from Denver to central Virginia, including the biggest March storm on record in St. Louis. Surprisingly in the last week of the month, 48% of the contiguous states were snow covered compared to 7% last March. A large swath of chilly, cloudy conditions lingered across the Midwest and Northeast during the final work week of March. The month concluded with a brief mild spell in the East that was accompanied by dense fog leading to a 100 car pile up in the southern Virginia Mountains. There were less than 20 twisters reported this month. March 2013 was very cold in the upper Mississippi Valley and chilly from the central Plains to the East Coast with the exception of northern New England. It was quite warm in the Southwest. Most of the nation was drier than usual with the southern Plains being the driest region. Only parts of the upper Mississippi and Ohio Valley were wetter than average.

Very cold weather dominated the eastern half of the country during the first few days of April while a final powerful disturbance in the southern branch of the jet stream brought a variety of inclement weather to the Deep South. Severe thunderstorms pummeled coastal Texas with baseball sized hail leading to severe property damage south of Houston. Flooding rains inundated the Gulf Coast and swatches of ice and snow were noted in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma as well as the southern Appalachians. The bitter cold weather finally relaxed in the Northeast during the first weekend of the month. A large spring storm gathered steam in the Rockies on April 8th, laid down a blanket of heavy snow from the central Rockies to the northwest Plains, including 20” on Rapid City, and produced a swath of severe weather in the eastern Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley on the 10th. The first severe storms of the season raked across much of Pennsylvania with hail and high winds too. Another wintery storm descended on the northern Plains during the middle weekend of the month dumping a record 15.8 inches of snow on Bismark and causing white-out conditions across much of North Dakota. Meanwhile a separate, but tandem disturbance brought flooding rains to the Gulf Coast. The first half of the month brought several hundred record minimum as chilly air held sway across the northern tier. Another disturbance raced northeast from the Rockies just after mid-month dumping heavy snow from northern Colorado to Minnesota. An outbreak of severe thunderstorms triggered wind damage in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and also brought repetitive storms to the Chicago area resulting in more than 5 inches of rain on April 17th. As the front moved to the Atlantic Seaboard, a squall line developed on Friday evening which caused disruption to air travel. Yet another snowstorm blanketed the high plains and eastern Dakotas on April 22-23 dropping at least a half of a foot of snow around the Twin Cities and raising the tally at Duluth to make April 2013 its snowiest month. Frigid weather in its wake brought the first record min in Minneapolis in almost 7 years and a slew of new record lows in the West. Fargo, ND finally topped 50F on April 26th for its latest occurrence on record and the floodwaters steadily rose along the Red River of the North. The weather calmed down for the final few days of April as temperatures returned to near seasonal levels. April 2013 was one of the chilliest on record in the northern Plains as temperatures averaged more than a dozen degrees below normal. It was a cool month from western New England to central Texas and as far west as the Great Basin. Only Florida and California averaged noticeably milder than normal. Pennsylvania was slightly milder than normal. April was a wet month in much of the Mississippi Valley , Great Lanes and parts of the eastern Plains. It was a dry month in the southwest Plains, most of the Southwest and from the eastern Ohio Valley to New England.

May 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

June 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

July 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

August 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

September 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

October 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

November 2013 U.S. Weather Summary - Coming Soon!

COMING SOON DECEMBER 2013 SUMMARY!