PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 432 PM EST TUE JAN 5 2010 ...2009 WEATHER YEAR IN REVIEW... THE YEAR OF 2009 WILL GO INTO THE CLIMATE BOOKS AS COOLER THAN NORMAL FOR MOST PARTS OF THE EASTERN CAROLINAS. IT WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE FIRST YEAR SINCE 2001 WHERE NO TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE WATCHES OR WARNINGS WERE ISSUED FOR THIS PORTION OF THE NORTH OR SOUTH CAROLINA COASTLINE. (STORMS IN RECENT YEARS HAVE INCLUDED HANNA 2008...GABRIELLE 2007...ERNESTO 2006...OPHELIA 2005...CHARLIE AND GASTON 2004...ISABEL 2003...AND KYLE 2002) A PAIR OF SNOWSTORMS AFFECTED THE AREA IN JANUARY AND EARLY FEBRUARY. ACCUMULATIONS FROM THE FIRST STORM ON JANUARY 20TH REACHED ONE INCH IN WILMINGTON WITH 3 INCHES RECORDED IN TABOR CITY AND DILLON. FOUR INCHES FELL NEAR MAXTON AND IN THE BLADEN COUNTY COMMUNITY OF TAR HEEL. THE SECOND SNOW EVENT ON FEBRUARY 4TH SAW WIDESPREAD ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE INCH OR LESS...BUT A SWATH FROM DARLINGTON TO FLORENCE AND MARION PICKED UP 2 TO 2.5 INCHES. THE GROWING SEASON GOT A LATE START WITH THE LAST SPRING FREEZE NOT OCCURRING UNTIL APRIL 8TH ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. HOWEVER...THE LENGTH OF GROWING SEASON TURNED OUT TO BE ABOUT AVERAGE FOR INLAND COUNTIES SINCE THE FIRST HARD FREEZE DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL NOVEMBER 28TH...2 TO 3 WEEKS LATER THAN AVERAGE. EVEN THOUGH MOST AREAS FELL TO FREEZING ON NOVEMBER 28TH...WILMINGTON DID NOT RECORD ITS FIRST OFFICIAL FREEZE UNTIL DECEMBER 12TH. THIS WAS THE 8TH LATEST FIRST-FREEZE ON RECORD IN WILMINGTON...AND ALLOWED THE GROWING SEASON TO LAST 281 DAYS: THE 11TH LONGEST ON RECORD. THE GROWING SEASON LASTED 212 DAYS AT LUMBERTON...233 AT FLORENCE...AND 286 AT NORTH MYRTLE BEACH. THE SPRING SEVERE WEATHER SEASON WAS FAIRLY ACTIVE. AN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST SOUTHEAST OF LUMBERTON ON MARCH 27TH...AND AN EF2 TORNADO OCCURRED ON APRIL 6TH NEAR CLARKTON IN BLADEN COUNTY. THIS BLADEN COUNTY TORNADO HAD WINDS ESTIMATED AT 115 MPH AND DAMAGED SEVERAL HOUSES. GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ON APRIL 14TH NEAR WHITEVILLE...ON MAY 11TH IN WILMINGTON...AND ON JUNE 1ST ACROSS SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN INLAND HORRY COUNTY SC. MICROBURSTS...WHICH CAN PRODUCE WINDS AS STRONG AS TORNADOES...OCCURRED ON MAY 11TH ACROSS SOUTHERN ROBESON COUNTY AND INJURED ONE PERSON ON JUNE 15TH EAST OF BLADENBORO. ON JULY 6TH HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS DROPPED 6 TO 8 INCHES OF RAIN IN WILMINGTON LEADING TO SERIOUS FLASH FLOODING. A SIMILAR EVENT IN GEORGETOWN ON JULY 13TH FLOODED THE HISTORIC DOWNTOWN AREA WITH OVER A FOOT OF WATER. ALTHOUGH HURRICANE BILL REMAINED WELL EAST OF THE CAROLINA COASTLINE WITH NO DIRECT IMPACT...LARGE SWELLS MOVED THROUGH THE COASTAL WATERS FOR SEVERAL DAYS AS THE STORM MADE ITS CLOSEST APPROACH. ON AUGUST 22ND LIFEGUARDS REPORTED A LARGE NUMBER OF RESCUES FROM RIP CURRENTS AND ROUGH SURF CONDITIONS. AT THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER MOST OF THE AREA WAS EXPERIENCING A D0 DROUGHT AND ACCUMULATED RAINFALL DEFICITS RANGED FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES. MAJOR RAINFALL EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER HIT NEW HANOVER AND PENDER COUNTIES WITH MONTHLY TOTALS ECLIPSING 9 INCHES IN WILMINGTON AND 18 INCHES AT SURF CITY. HEAVY RAIN ACROSS EASTERN PENDER COUNTY ON SEPTEMBER 7TH WASHED OUT HIGHWAYS AND LEFT MANY OTHERS IMPASSIBLE. OVER 9 INCHES OF RAIN WAS REPORTED IN SURF CITY ON SEPTEMBER 7TH ALONE. OCTOBER WAS A MONTH OF TEMPERATURE EXTREMES AS A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS SET AT WILMINGTON ON THE 10TH WITH NEAR RECORD HIGHS AT THE OTHER LOCATIONS. BY THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH RECORD LOW MAXIMUMS WERE SET WITH SOME STATIONS SEEING 60 DEGREE TEMPERATURE FALLS BETWEEN THE 10TH AND 20TH OF THE MONTH. OCTOBER ENDED UP WITH WELL BELOW NORMAL DAYTIME HIGHS...MONTHLY DEPARTURES RANGED FROM -2.5 DEGREES AT WILMINGTON TO -4.4 AT DARLINGTON AND -4.8 AT MARION. TEMPERATURES RECOVERED BY NOVEMBER THOUGH WITH WILMINGTON RECORDING ITS ALL TIME WARMEST MONTHLY AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE...AND NORTH MYRTLE BEACH HAVING A +6.8 DEGREE DEPARTURE FOR THE SAME STATISTIC. THE REST OF THE AREA FINALLY GOT IN ON THE ACTION IN NOVEMBER AS MOISTURE FROM THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM IDA PRODUCED 3 INCHES OF RAIN OVER WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY...TO OVER 9 INCHES IN PENDER COUNTY. THE SIGNIFICANT RAIN CONTINUED INTO DECEMBER WITH WILMINGTON BREAKING ITS ALL TIME DECEMBER RAINFALL RECORD AND FLORENCE REACHING 9TH ON ITS LIST. BY THE END OF 2009 THE DROUGHT HAD LIFTED AND THE CAPE FEAR REGION WAS EXPERIENCING AN UNUSUALLY MOIST PERIOD. *** WILMINGTON NC 2009 CLIMATE DATA (PRELIMINARY) *** AVG HI/DEP AVG LO/DEP AVG T/DEP WARMEST COOLEST PRECIP/DEP JAN 54.5/-1.8 35.9/+0.1 45.2/-0.9 73/6TH 15/17TH 2.01/-2.50 FEB 58.6/-0.9 35.5/-2.0 47.1/-1.4 74/8TH 19/6TH 1.61/-2.05 MAR 63.9/-1.4 43.5/-0.2 53.7/-1.3 84/9TH 19/4TH 3.57/-0.65 APR 73.8/-0.3 52.5/+1.3 63.2/+0.6 85/26TH 34/17TH 1.67/-1.27 MAY 80.4/-0.2 63.1/+3.3 71.7/+1.5 89/31ST 48/12TH 6.52/+2.12 JUN 87.2/+0.8 70.2/+2.6 78.7/+1.7 95/20TH 66/10TH 3.80/-2.83 JUL 88.1/-1.7 71.0/-1.3 79.5/-1.6 96/1ST 63/10TH 9.67/+2.05 AUG 88.4/+0.1 72.7/+1.7 80.5/+0.9 97/11TH 68/24TH 6.33/-0.98 SEP 81.8/-2.3 65.2/-0.6 73.5/-1.5 89/25TH 52/30TH 8.75/+1.96 OCT 73.2/-2.5 55.8/+1.9 64.5/-0.3 89/10TH 38/20TH 2.09/-1.12 NOV 67.1/-0.7 48.5/+3.4 57.8/+1.3 81/1ST 35/28TH 4.85/+1.59 DEC 57.3/-2.3 38.1/-0.0 47.7/-1.2 73/9TH 25/29TH 8.86/+5.08 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ANN 72.4/-1.6 54.3/+0.8 63.6/-0.2 97 15 59.73/+2.68 DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION... 0.01 OR GREATER: 130 0.10 OR GREATER: 72 0.50 OR GREATER: 34 1.00 OR GREATER: 16 MAX IN 24-HOUR PERIOD: 6.52 AVERAGE OBSERVED RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 71 PERCENT DEGREE DAYS... HEATING DEGREE DAYS: 2440 COOLING DEGREE DAYS: 2053 THERE WERE 37 DAYS WITH HIGHS 90+ ...AND 39 DAYS WITH LOWS 32 OR BELOW. AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS 7.3 MPH AND THE PEAK GUST WAS 51 MPH OBSERVED ON JANUARY 7TH. *** FLORENCE SC 2009 CLIMATE DATA (PRELIMINARY) *** AVG HI/DEP AVG LO/DEP AVG T/DEP WARMEST COOLEST PRECIP/DEP JAN 53.8/-1.7 34.7/-0.5 44.3/-1.0 73/5TH 14/17TH 1.55/-2.53 FEB 59.5/-0.3 35.3/-2.2 47.4/-1.3 76/11TH 20/6TH 2.11/-0.92 MAR 64.7/-3.2 43.3/-1.1 54.0/-2.2 85/11TH 18/4TH 3.17/-0.83 APR 75.3/-0.7 50.8/-0.2 63.0/-0.5 90/24TH 32/8TH 1.59/-1.19 MAY 81.1/-1.8 61.8/+1.9 71.5/+0.1 91/31ST 48/19TH 6.20/+2.93 JUN 89.0/+0.6 69.2/+1.6 79.1/+1.1 96/27TH 63/2ND 4.64/+0.34 JUL 90.0/-1.3 69.5/-2.1 79.8/-1.6 96/1ST 63/4TH 5.08/-0.24 AUG 89.8/+0.3 71.3/+0.9 80.6/+0.6 97/11TH 65/25TH 2.22/-3.22 SEP 84.9/+0.2 63.9/-1.1 74.4/-0.5 93/25TH 48/30TH 0.90/-2.77 OCT 73.8/-2.1 53.5/+0.6 63.6/-0.8 89/9TH 37/20TH 3.13/+0.20 NOV 65.6/-1.9 45.3/+1.1 55.4/-0.4 77/15TH 28/28TH 4.75/+2.16 DEC 53.6/-4.9 35.4/-2.0 44.5/-3.5 76/9TH 24/21ST 5.04/+1.57 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ANN 73.4/-1.4 52.8/-0.3 63.1/-0.9 97 14 40.38/-4.51 DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION... 0.01 OR GREATER: 128 0.10 OR GREATER: 72 0.50 OR GREATER: 25 1.00 OR GREATER: 11 MAX IN 24-HOUR PERIOD: 2.71 AVERAGE OBSERVED RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 71 PERCENT DEGREE DAYS... HEATING DEGREE DAYS: 2621 COOLING DEGREE DAYS: 2052 THERE WERE 57 DAYS WITH HIGHS 90+ ...AND 43 DAYS WITH LOWS 32 OR BELOW. AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS 6.4 MPH AND THE PEAK GUST WAS 59 MPH OBSERVED ON JANUARY 7TH. *** NORTH MYRTLE BEACH SC 2009 CLIMATE DATA (PRELIMINARY) *** AVG HI/DEP AVG LO/DEP AVG T/DEP WARMEST COOLEST PRECIP/DEP JAN 54.1/-2.4 37.3/+0.5 45.7/-1.0 67/7TH 17/17TH 2.12/-1.18 FEB 57.5/-0.3 37.5/-0.4 47.5/-0.4 74/8TH 19/6TH 1.65/-1.65 MAR 62.0/-0.8 44.5/+0.8 53.3/-0.0 84/9TH 21/4TH 3.10/-1.50 APR 71.3/-0.2 53.3/+1.3 62.3/+0.5 78/29TH 36/17TH 1.23/-1.37 MAY 78.3/-0.4 64.7/+4.0 71.5/+1.8 85/31ST 50/12TH 4.15/+1.05 JUN 86.6/+2.0 71.6/+3.5 79.1/+2.7 96/20TH 68/24TH 4.37/-0.93 JUL 86.3/-0.5 72.0/+0.5 79.1/-0.1 91/1ST 63/4TH 5.36/-1.34 AUG 87.8/+1.5 74.6/+3.7 81.2/+2.6 92/11TH 71/25TH 2.94/-2.96 SEP 84.7/+2.4 67.6/+1.8 76.1/+2.0 88/28TH 54/30TH 2.66/-3.04 OCT 75.1/+0.6 58.3/+3.8 66.7/+2.2 91/10TH 39/20TH 2.93/-0.17 NOV 67.7/+2.1 50.1/+6.8 54.5/+4.4 79/1ST 34/28TH 6.06/+3.16 DEC 57.4/-0.5 40.5/+3.4 48.9/+1.4 71/2ND 28/30TH 8.70/+5.40 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ANN 72.4/+0.3 56.0/+2.5 64.2/+1.4 96 17 45.27/-4.53 DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION... 0.01 OR GREATER: 126 0.10 OR GREATER: 80 0.50 OR GREATER: 30 1.00 OR GREATER: 6 MAX IN 24-HOUR PERIOD: 4.40 AVERAGE OBSERVED RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 72 PERCENT DEGREE DAYS... HEATING DEGREE DAYS: 2304 COOLING DEGREE DAYS: 2134 THERE WERE 22 DAYS WITH HIGHS 90+ ...AND 30 DAYS WITH LOWS 32 OR BELOW. AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS 7.4 MPH AND THE PEAK GUST WAS 47 MPH RECORDED ON JUNE 14TH. *** LUMBERTON NC 2009 CLIMATE DATA (PRELIMINARY) *** AVG HI AVG LO AVG T WARMEST COOLEST PRECIP JAN 52.9 34.0 43.5 70/5TH 13/17TH 0.73 FEB 58.4 34.1 46.3 75/11TH 18/6TH 1.25 MAR 63.5 42.3 52.9 84/9TH 19/4TH 2.43 APR 74.9 50.0 62.5 89/24TH 31/8TH 1.92 MAY 81.6 61.9 71.7 90/31ST 47/12TH 5.35 JUN 90.4 68.4 79.4 98/20TH 63/2ND 1.35 JUL 89.3 69.4 79.4 96/1ST 61/4TH 3.89 AUG 89.2 71.2 80.2 98/10TH 66/25TH 4.75 SEP 84.1 63.0 73.6 91/15TH 47/30TH 1.80 OCT 73.5 52.3 62.9 90/9TH 35/20TH 0.70 NOV 66.1 45.1 55.6 77/8TH 29/28TH 4.45 DEC 53.5 35.6 44.6 75/9TH 26/30TH 3.98 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ANN 73.1 52.3 62.7 98 13 32.60 DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION... 0.01 OR GREATER: 96 0.10 OR GREATER: 60 0.50 OR GREATER: 23 1.00 OR GREATER: 10 MAX IN 24-HOUR PERIOD: 3.16 AVERAGE OBSERVED RELATIVE HUMIDITY: 72 PERCENT DEGREE DAYS... HEATING DEGREE DAYS: 2725 COOLING DEGREE DAYS: 2011 THERE WERE 55 DAYS WITH HIGHS 90+ ...AND 50 DAYS WITH LOWS 32 OR BELOW. AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS 5.7 MPH. PEAK WIND GUST VALUE IS NOT AVAILABLE. $$ JDW/TRA