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.
$$
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