PENNSYLVANIA, USA — 2021 was a year of wild weather from start to finish in Northeastern and Central PA. From memorable storms to broken records, almost every month had something to talk about.
January was a tease; it proved to be a quiet month with an average amount of snow and near average temperatures. But here in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, we know better than to expect things to stay quiet in the weather world. And the start of a new month meant the start of a new weather pattern.
In the WNEP backyard, 13.1 inches of snow fell on February 1st and an additional 4.5 inches fell the next two days. Then it felt like it kept snowing all month long. In fact, it snowed on 17 of February's 28 days. With a total of 28.3 inches for the month, 2021 is now the 2nd snowiest February on record only behind 2014, when we saw just over 29 inches of snow.
Then, almost like the calendar knew that February was over, we barely received any snow for the rest of the winter.
Fast forward to May: it was 91 degrees on Wednesday, May 26 but then things changed drastically Memorial Day Weekend. The unofficial start to summer broke records but not the good kind. Both the high of 50 degrees on Saturday, May 29, and 52 degrees on Sunday, May 30 were the coldest high temperatures ever recorded for those days.
The big story in June was the heat. We hit 90 degrees 7 times, which puts 2021 in third place for the most number of 90 degree days during the month of June, only behind the years 1943 and 1923. Heatwaves do happen in June, but not that often. And the two heat waves we had this June, one at the beginning of the month, and another one at the end is only the third time that's happened since record-keeping began.
The Stormtracker 16 team was on air a lot more than usual during the month of July thanks to wall-to-wall tornado warning coverage several times throughout the month.
The National Weather Service office in State College, the forecast office for our central Pennsylvania counties, issued 141 Severe Thunderstorms, Flash Floods, and Tornado Warnings throughout the month of July.
More than 100 of those happened in just 4 days.
August was stormy and steamy with heat waves and tropical storms. The Scranton area saw the 3rd warmest August on record-but the big story was a storm named Henri.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport recorded 2.56 inches of rain the night of the storm and then another inch the next day. Henri grounded the Great Pocono Raceway Airshow on its last day. Boats were washed away on Lake Wallenpaupack. Water poured into the emergency room lobby at Regional Hospital of Scranton. Flooding at an apartment complex in Monroe County forced dozens of people from their homes. And we had three tornado warnings in the area that night.
Probably the most memorable weather day of the month of September was the first day when remnants of Category 4 Hurricane Ida hit Pennsylvania.
Rain began early Wednesday morning on September 1, and it continued to rain all day long. 5.09 inches of rain was recorded at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, the highest one-day total for the month and breaking a record for that day, too. 2021 is now in the top 10 for rainiest Septembers on record for both Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. With 8.51 inches of rain recorded for the month, 2021 stands at number 7 for Williamsport, and with 10.49 inches recorded for the month, 2021 stands at number 2 for Scranton, only behind 2011.
The average temperature for the month of October was 59.4 degrees. More than half the month saw high temperatures above 70 degrees and 2021 is now the warmest October on record for the Scranton area.
In November, WNEP's annual snow thrower contest came to an end. The backyard picked up its first inch of snow on the morning of November 28: the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.
Then an unusually warm start to December meant delayed openings for ski resorts in the Poconos. With several days in the 50s and 60s the first half of the month, going into the last week of the year, 2021 is still ranked at number two for warmest December on record, only behind 2015.
This New Year's, let's cheers to clear skies in 2022.
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