P1: OTA/XYZ P2: ABC JWBS077-fm JWBS077-Horstmeyer July 30, :18 Printer Name: Yet to Come THE WEATHER ALMANAC

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1 THE WEATHER ALMANAC

2 THE WEATHER ALMANAC A reference guide to weather, climate, and related issues in the United States and its key cities TWELFTH EDITION Steven L. Horstmeyer A JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC., PUBLICATION

3 Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) , fax (978) , or on the web at Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) , fax (201) , or online at Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) , outside the United States at (317) or fax (317) Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Horstmeyer, Steven L. The weather almanac: a reference guide to weather, climate, and related issues in the United States and its key cities. Twelfth Edition / Steven L. Horstmeyer p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN (cloth) Printed in the United States of America obook ISBN: epdf ISBN: epub ISBN:

4 Contents Preface vii 1 Climate Maps of the United States 1 2 Renewable Energy 25 3 Extreme Weather Disasters, Records, Floods, Heat, Cold, and Blizzards 81 4 Thunderstorms, Lightning, Hail, and Tornadoes Tropical Cyclones ElNiño, La Niña, and the Southern Oscillation Global Warming and Climate Change Air Pollution Climate Data from Around the World 371 World Weather Data (Table 9.2) Local Climatological Data Annual Summaries Birmingham, Alabama 461 Mobile, Alabama 466 Anchorage, Alaska 471 Barrow, Alaska 476 Fairbanks, Alaska 481 Juneau, Alaska 486 Nome, Alaska 491 Flagstaff, Arizona 496 Phoenix, Arizona 501 Tucson, Arizona 506 Little Rock, Arkansas 511 Eureka, California 516 Fresno, California 521 Los Angeles, International Airport 526 Redding, California 531 Sacramento, California 536 San Diego, California 541 San Francisco, California 546 Colorado Springs, Colorado 551 Denver, Colorado 556 Grand Junction, Colorado 561 Windsor Locks, Connecticut 566 Washington, D.C. 571 Wilmington, Delaware 576 Daytona Beach, Florida 581 Jacksonville, Florida 586 Key West, Florida 591 Miami, Florida 596 Orlando, Florida 601 Tampa, Florida 606 Atlanta, Georgia 611 Savannah, Georgia 616 Hilo, Hawaii 621 Honolulu, Hawaii 626 Boise, Idaho 631 Chicago, Illinois 636 Peoria, Illinois 641 Springfield, Illinois 646 Evansville, Indiana 651 Indianapolis, Indiana 656 South Bend, Indiana 661 Des Moines, Iowa 666 Dodge City, Kansas 671 Wichita, Kansas 676 Topeka, Kansas 681 Jackson, Kentucky 686 Lexington, Kentucky 691 Louisville, Kentucky 696 New Orleans, Louisiana 701 Shreveport, Louisiana 706 Caribou, Maine 711

5 vi Contents Weather Almanac, 12th Edition Portland, Maine 716 Baltimore, Maryland 721 Boston, Massachusetts 726 Worcester, Massachusetts 731 Detroit, Michigan 736 Grand Rapids, Michigan 741 Houghton Lake, Michigan 746 Marquette Country Airport, Michigan 751 Duluth, Minnesota 756 International Falls, Minnesota 761 Minneapolis, Minnesota 766 Jackson, Mississippi 771 International Airport, Kansas City, Missouri 776 St. Louis, Missouri 781 Billings, Montana 786 Great Falls, Montana 791 Helena, Montana 796 Scottsbluff, Nebraska 801 North Platte, Nebraska 806 Omeha, Nebraska 811 Elko, Nevada 816 Las Vegas, Nevada 821 Reno, Nevada 826 Concord, New Hempshire 831 Atlantic City, N.A.F.E.C. 836 Newark, New Jersey 841 Albuquerque, New Mexico 846 Albany, New York 851 Buffalo, New York 856 New York, New York 861 Rochester, new York 866 Syracuse, New York 871 Asheville, North Carolina 876 Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina 881 Fargo, North Dakota 886 Williston, North Dakota 891 Cleveland, Ohio 896 Columbus, Ohio 901 Cincinnati, OH 906 Toledo, Ohio 911 Okalahoma City, Oklahoma 916 Tulsa, Oklahoma 921 Burns, Oregon 926 Pendleton, Oregon 931 Portland, Oregon 936 Avoca/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania 941 Erie, Pennsylvania 946 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 951 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 956 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 961 San Juan, Puerto Rico 966 Providence, Rhode Island 971 Charleston, South Carolina 976 Aberdeen, South Dakota 981 Rapid City, South Dakota 986 Sioux Falls, South Dakota 991 Knoxville, Tennessee 996 Memphis, Tennessee 1001 Nashville, Tennessee 1006 Amarillo, Texas 1011 Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas 1016 El Paso, Texas 1021 Houston, Texas 1026 San Antonio, Texas 1031 Salt Lake City, Utah 1036 Burlington, Vermont 1041 Norfolk, Virginia 1046 Richmond, Virginia 1051 Roanoke, Virginia 1056 Seattle, Seattle-Tacoma Airport 1061 Spokane, Washington 1066 Charleston, West Virginia 1071 Green Bay, Wisconsin 1076 La Crosse, Wisconsin 1081 Madison, Wisconsin 1086 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1091 Cheyenne, Wyoming A Time Line of Meteorology: 9000 B.C A.D Index of Acronyms and Abbreviations 1117 General Index 1119 Index of Persons 1127 Index of Select Storms and Events 1129

6 Preface Whenever an established work like The Weather Almanac is updated, the primary concern of the editor is to remain true to the traditions established in earlier editions. The editor is faced with retaining some material, updating other material, and saying goodbye to material that has seen better days. The 12th edition of The Weather Almanac is my best effort at staying true to the hard work of my predecessors, but at the same time move the book in the direction that my 33 years as a broadcast meteorologist, public speaker, and educator tell me is most useful to the user of the book seeking answers to weather questions. If you are looking at material that contains numbers or maps or graphs, admittedly most of the book, then you are reaping the rewards of the hard work of James Patterson. During the course of this rewrite, James was working fulland part-time jobs, finishing his meteorology degree, buying a house, and starting a family. He always found time to get the job done. He has a great ability to find problem numbers and fix them. Thanks James. James, did I say thanks? Chapter 1 contains 42 climate maps of the United States and communicate what maps can best the spatial patterns that determine what we call climate. Chapter 2 is all new and a response to a heightened interest in renewable energy. In Chapter 2, you will find detailed information about the solar radiation and wind climates of the United States and many wind roses. They are hard to come by, but there are many here. I have lumped the many varieties of extreme and recordsetting weather into Chapter 3 and dug long and hard to assemble a chapter with some very difficult to find but important weather information. I have stayed with the customary chapters for severe and tropical weather (Chapters 4 and 5, respectively). Chapter 6 covers El Niño/La Niña, perhaps the most important climate discovery of the last half of the 20th century. Chapter 6 is updated with all new easy-tofollow diagrams. The second entirely new chapter is Chapter 7: Global Warming and Climate Change. As a professional meteorologist deeply concerned with human impact on our environment, I am continually dismayed by the amount of bad information out there about global warming. I have intentionally steered clear of forecasts and hope this chapter clarifies physical principles, research methods, the role of proxy data, and what climate models are and what they are not. Air Pollution is the topic of Chapter 8 and contains the latest available data that comes primarily from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Chapter 9 contains international climate data. I have included more locations (321) and each location has more data. While this does not give a complete look at Earth s climate, most places you can easily go are covered. In Chapter 10, you will find climate data for 128 US cities in the form of the 2009 Local Climatological Data Annual Summary. There is a great deal of information here on each station, and there are 20 more stations than the last edition. We also graphed the daily high temperatures, low temperatures, and precipitation for 2009 so you can see at a glance what 2009 was like in each city. Chapter 11 is an annotated time line of human interaction with and knowledge of the atmosphere. As of this writing, there is no other popular reference work with such a listing. History buffs should find this interesting. I can now answer the question my wife put to me about a week ago. Yes honey, you now get your husband back. Steven L. Horstmeyer August 23, 2010 Cincinnati, OH