WFO San Angelo Climatology

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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
316 AM CST FRI JAN 4 2002

...DECEMBER WAS WARMER AND DRIER THAN NORMAL FOR WEST CENTRAL TEXAS... 

AT ABILENE REGIONAL AIRPORT...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 
WAS 47.9 DEGREES. THIS WAS 2.4 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL AVERAGE 
TEMPERATURE OF 45.5 DEGREES. TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER WAS 
0.98 INCHES. THIS WAS 0.05 INCHES BELOW THE MONTHLY NORMAL OF 1.03 
INCHES.   

AT SAN ANGELO REGIONAL AIRPORT...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 
WAS 47.6 DEGREES. THIS WAS 1.6 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL AVERAGE 
TEMPERATURE OF 46.0 DEGREES. TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER WAS 
JUST 0.14 INCHES. THIS WAS 0.65 INCHES BELOW THE MONTHLY NORMAL OF 
0.79 INCHES.  


DECEMBER 2001 WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS...

SCATTERED LIGHT RAINSHOWERS OCCURRED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS DURING THE 
FIRST HALF OF DECEMBER...AND THESE WERE ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK UPPER 
LEVEL DISTURBANCES AND COLD FRONTS WHICH MOVED INTO THE REGION. MOST 
OF THE SHOWERS OCCURRED OVER EASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN SECTIONS OF 
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM THESE EPISODES WERE 
GENERALLY LESS THAN ONE TENTH OF AN INCH. 

MOISTURE WAS MORE READILY AVAILABLE WHEN AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE 
AND COLD FRONT MOVED INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS ON THE 16TH. NUMEROUS 
SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRED OVER EASTERN AND NORTHERN 
SECTIONS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS WERE GENERALLY ONE HALF TO THREE QUARTERS 
OF AN INCH OVER THE EAST. IN THE THE BIG COUNTRY...AMOUNTS RANGING 
FROM 0.50 INCH TO 1.25 INCHES WERE COMMON. THE CONCHO VALLEY AND 
NORTHERN EDWARDS PLATEAU RECEIVED THE LIGHTEST RAINFALL...WHERE 
AMOUNTS WERE GENERALLY LESS THAN ONE TENTH OF AN INCH. 

A DRY AIRMASS WAS PRESENT OVER THE REGION ON MANY DAYS DURING THE 
MONTH...WITH CLEAR SKIES AND PLEASANT DAYTIME TEMPERATURES.   

LATE IN DECEMBER...A CHANGE IN THE UPPER AIR PATTERN ALLOWED COLD AIR
FROM CANADA TO MOVE DOWN ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND REACH TEXAS. ON
SEVERAL DAYS LATE IN THE MONTH...LOW TEMPERATURES WERE IN THE LOWER 
TO MID 20S.