Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Power Pacific system will continue to bring significant impacts for Pacific Northwest into northern California the remainder of the week. Dangerous coastal affects, heavy rain, flooding, strong winds, and higher elevation mountain snow continues. Meanwhile, a storm across the east is set to bring the first accumulating snow to many higher elevations of the Catskills into the central Appalachians. Read More >

VALENTINE
THANKSGIVING DAY CLIMATOLOGY

Thanksgiving Day is observed nationally on the fourth Thursday in November. Some speculate the holiday dates back to the day of thanks ordered by Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colony in New England in 1621. Currently there are seven days in which Thanksgiving Day is celebrated, ranging from November 22nd to November 28th, however this was not always the case. Before 1941, Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on the day proclaimed by the president in a Presidential Proclamation, typically the last Thursday of November. This changed the seven days Thanksgiving Day was celebrated to November 24th to November 30th. In 1939 and 1940, there were exceptions to the "typical" date of Thanksgiving. Retailers lobbied for more days of shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and won. Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on the 23rd in 1939 and on the 21st in 1940. Following the 1940 debate on which day Thanksgiving would be celebrated, Congress stepped in and designated the current fourth Thursday of November to be the day to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. This study uses the observed day that Thanksgiving Day was celebrated.

THANKSGIVING DAY IN VALENTINE
PERIOD OF RECORD 128 YEARS: 1889-2016

TEMPERATURE DATA

Highest	75 degrees (November 24, 2011)
Lowest	-18 degrees (November 28, 1985)
Lowest Maximum	2 degrees (November 28, 1985)
Highest Minimum	36 degrees (November 24, 1949)
Average High	42.5 degrees
Average Low	17.6 degrees
30 Year Normal High	44 to 41 degrees
30 Year Normal Low	18 to 15 degrees
Average Temperature Range	24.9 degrees
Largest Range between High and Low	50 degrees High 61, Low 11 (November 26, 2009)
Smallest Range between High and Low	5 degrees High 30, Low 25 (November 24, 1892)

High Temperature by 10 Degree Ranges

0s	10s	20s	30s	40s	50s	60s	70s
5	3	14	27	37	31	9	2
3.9%	2.3%	10.9%	21.1%	28.9%	24.2%	7.0%	1.6%

Low Temperature by 10 Degree Ranges

-10s	-0s	0s	10s	20s	30s
1	11	13	35	60	8
0.8%	8.6%	10.2%	27.3%	46.9%	6.3%

PRECIPITATION DATA

Maximum Precipitation	1.55 inches (November 26, 1896)
Maximum Snowfall	15.5 inches (November 26, 1896)
Number of Times Precipitation	45 Occurrences or 35.2%
Number of Times Measurable Precipitation (more than a Trace)	20 Occurrences or 15.6%
Number of Times Snowfall	40 Occurrences or 31.3%
Number of Times Measurable Snowfall (more than a Trace)	19 Occurrences or 14.8%
Number of Times No Precipitation	83 Occurrences or 64.8%

SNOW DEPTH INFORMATION IN VALENTINE
PERIOD OF RECORD 117 YEARS: 1900-2016
(snow depth rounded to nearest whole inch or trace if 0.4 inches or less)

Number of Years - 1 inch or more snow on ground (117 years)	21 Years (17.9%)
Number of Years - 1 inch or more snow on ground (last 25 years)	4 Years (16.0%)
Number of Years - 1 inch or more snow on ground (last 10 years)	0 Year (0.0%)
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (117 years)	39 Years (33.3%)
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (last 25 years)	4 Years (16.0%)
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (last 10 years)	0 Years (0.0%)
Consecutive Years 1 inch or more snow on ground	3 Years (2 times) (1929 - 1931) (1991 - 1993)
Consecutive Years without 1 inch or more snow on ground	20 Years (1953-1972)
Current Streak Consecutive Years without 1 inch or more snow on ground	16 Years

1 Inch or More Snow Depth Occurrences by Decade
* incomplete decade

1900s	1910s	1920s	1930s	1940s	1950s
2	1	4	2	1	1
1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s
0	3	2	4	1	0*

DAILY WEATHER SUMMARIES PAST 5 THANKSGIVING DAYS

Date	High	Low	Precip	Snow	Snow Depth	Remarks
Nov 22, 2012	56	21	T	0.0	0	Partly cloudy, isolated sprinkles, windy (peak gust 43 mph)
Nov 28, 2013	30	20	0.00	0.0	0	Cloudy, mostly sunny late
Nov 27, 2014	45	20	0.00	0.0	0	Cloudy morning, mostly sunny afternoon
Nov 26, 2015	25	10	T	T	0	Cloudy, morning flurries
Nov 24, 2016	42	24	0.00	0.0	0	Mostly cloudy, breezy (peak gust 29 mph)

YEAR BY YEAR WEATHER FOR PAST THANKSGIVING DAYS
CLICK ON GRAPH FOR LARGER IMAGE

VALENTINE RECORDS FOR POTENTIAL THANKSGIVING DAYS
(RECORDS SET ON CELEBRATED THANKSGIVING DAYS HIGHLIGHTED)

Date	High	Low	Low Max	High Min	Precip	Snow
Nov 22	74/2006,1998	-15/1898	8/1985	36/1933,17 1899	0.28/1897	4.0/2003,1909
Nov 23	70/1988	-16/1985	6/1985	40/1899	0.48/2001	4.4/1993
Nov 24	75/2011	-13/2003	4/1993	37/1923	1.14/1944	3.2/1895
Nov 25	76/1960	-7/1975	8/1993	45/1960	0.46/1944	4.3/1975
Nov 26	72/1998	-19/1975	5/1919	39/1949	1.55/1896	15.5/1896
Nov 27	75/1998	-18/1985	0/1896	38/1949	0.68/1905	3.3/1983
Nov 28	71/1932	-18/1985,76	2/1985	40/1904	0.45/1905	2.7/1929,05

ALSO VISIT NORTH PLATTE THANKSGIVING DAY CLIMATOLOGY

For more holiday climate studies see the main menu
Holiday Climate Studies for North Platte and Valentine

Page composition by
Matthew Masek
Update includes 2016

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Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Thanksgiving Day Climatology - Valentine, NE