*** Paul Piorek is editor and publisher of Paul's Local Weather Journal for southwestern Connecticut ... Paul is the on-air meteorologist at WICC 600 AM and 107.3 FM ... Paul is a New York Emmy award winner (2007), five-time Emmy nominee, and four-time winner of the Connecticut Associated Press Broadcasters' Association award for Best TV Weathercast (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012) ... Paul was voted Best Local Television Personality by the readers of Fairfield County Weekly Magazine (2012) ... Paul was inducted into the Housatonic Community College Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Alumni Award (2012) ... The local weather journal is a two-time winner of the Communicator Award of Distinction (2012 & 2013) ... Paul is currently a full-time teacher of Earth Science and Mathematics in Fairfield ... Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulPiorekWICC ...

Monday, November 12, 2012

A Tale of Two Months

The current streak of 20 consecutive warmer-than-normal months may be coming to an end. October's average temperature of  58.1 degrees at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford was 3.2 degrees above normal. In fact, the last 14 days of last month were warmer-than-normal, including four days with average temperatures at least 10 degrees above normal. In addition, the first six days of October were warmer-than-normal.

This month, however, has been a different story. Yesterday's high temperature of 62 degrees notwithstanding, November's average temperature of 44 degrees through the first 11 days is 4.4 degrees below normal. Although we're expecting one more day with above average temperatures, a cold front will deliver much cooler air later tomorrow through the end of the week.

Take a look at the following bar graph created by Ralph Fato of Norwalk. He wrote, "Here is a look at the departure from normal for maximum temperatures for (two) Connecticut locations. Don’t let the line fool you. The line represents the normal temperature as you can see from the axis on the right. The bars show how much we have been above or below normal since October 1. November is looking cold so far. BDL was 20 degrees below normal on the 7th!" Click the image to enlarge it.


Thus far this month, six days have been colder-than-normal. Three days (November 6 through 8) were at least ten degrees colder-than-normal. Only two days (November 10 & 11) have been warmer-than-normal. Just two days this month featured morning low temperatures at or below 32 degrees. The current brief stretch of mild weather will come to a close tonight as a cold front brings some rain and much cooler air in its wake. Daytime highs won't escape the 40s by Thursday.

Paul