Warmest Winter at Charleston, West Virginia in 40 Years.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1008 AM EST THU MAR 8 2012

...WARMEST WINTER AT CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA IN 40 YEARS...

FOR CLIMATE PURPOSES...WINTER IS DEFINED AS THE 3 MONTHS OF DECEMBER...
JANUARY...FEBRUARY...LUMPED TOGETHER AS A WHOLE.

THE 3 MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE WINTER OF 2011...2012 WAS
40.3 DEGREES AT CHARLESTON. THAT WAS 3.9 DEGREES WARMER THAN THE
NORMAL OF 36.4 DEGREES.

A DEPARTURE IN THE 3 MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF MORE THAN 2
DEGREES IS SIGNIFICANT. THIS RECENT WINTER...CHARLESTON HAD A
TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE OF NEARLY 4 DEGREES.

THE LAST TIME CHARLESTON HAD A WINTER THIS MILD WAS BACK IN 1996
TO 1997. THAT WINTER HAD THE SAME AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 40.3 DEGREES

THE LAST TIME CHARLESTON HAD A MILDER WINTER WAS 1971 TO
1972...WHEN THE 3 MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 40.4 DEGREES. THAT
WAS 40 YEARS AGO.

EVEN THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE...SEEN AT ANY TIME DURING OUR RECENT
WINTER OF 2011 TO 2012...WAS ONLY 12 DEGREES. SO...CHARLESTON
FAILED TO EVEN SEE A SINGLE DIGIT TEMPERATURE THIS WINTER.

OF COURSE...THESE SPECIFIC NUMBERS APPLY ONLY TO CHARLESTON.
HOWEVER...THE MILD WINTER PATTERN AFFECTED ALL OF THE MOUNTAIN
STATE.
$$

KTB