PENNSYLVANIA, USA — The warmest day of the month of December was a record-breaking one. It was 58 degrees at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport on the afternoon of the 30th. That broke the previous record set back in 1984 of 57 degrees. The coldest temperatures recorded for the month were on the night of the 23rd and the morning of the 24th, with lows of just 1 degree.
On Christmas Eve, the high temperature was 10 degrees in Scranton. There is only one Christmas Eve on record that was colder than that; it was back in 1906 when the high was 9 degrees. It was 13 degrees on December 24 in Williamsport, which is the coldest Christmas Eve on record for central PA.
Then just one week later, on New Year's Eve, it was 56 degrees in Scranton. That is nearly 20 degrees above what is considered average for late- December.
The month of December also featured two unique winter storms of snow, rain, and ice; both are happening over a two-day time period of a Thursday into Friday.
The first was on December 15 and 16, where the WNEP backyard received a total of 2 inches of snow both days, with a storm total of 4 inches. But because rain and sleet mixed in throughout the storm, our totals were a lot lower than places like Susquehanna and Wayne Counties, where the highest elevations received up to 9 inches of snow.
Then exactly one week later, another winter storm impacted holiday travel the days leading into Christmas weekend. It started as snow on the morning of Thursday the 22nd, and admittedly, many spots got more snow than forecasted, especially in central PA at the onset of the storm. But then, as temperatures warmed, the snow changed to rain, and it rained hard for several hours into the night and through the next morning. As the storm pulled away, the wind picked up, and temperatures dropped significantly, extremely fast. It was 56 degrees on the morning of the 23rd, and it fell to 1 by that night.
2023 has started the way 2022 ended—mild. As we look ahead to the end of the week, even though it will be cooler, by no means will it be cold for this time of year.