The last day of January proved to be a very stormy day here in Connecticut!  Around 2AM, the winds really picked up and a weather station just a mile from me registered a 54 mph wind gust.  My station is blocked by a lot of trees so my peak wind gust along Spring Road was only 31 mph.  Personally, I had never felt wind so strong in my life.  I wasn’t in town when Hurricane Irene came through but I was here during Sandy.  The winds in North Haven were on par with what we received during Sandy.  

Around 3AM I heard a loud noise which turned out being a tree that had broke in half and fell mere feet from my deck!  I went outside to assess the damage and on my way inside my gas grill was completely blown over by the wind. 

North Haven received about a half an inch of rain from this storm.  We close out January with 1.68” of liquid precipitation.  I’m still in the process of analyzing the January weather data from my weather station but I can tell you with strong confidence that January of 2013 was above average in temperatures.  Even with that frigid cold snap that we had earlier in the month, the average high and low temps appear to be at least 4 degrees above normal. 

It’s really amazing how the temperatures can fluctuate on different sides of a front.  Many in the Midwest saw very mild temps one day and then frigid temps the next!  Connecticut experienced the mild temperatures last night as some towns rose into the 60’s!  In the Montowese section of North Haven, I reached a high temperature of 59.5 at 3:30 AM.  Just 12 hours later the temp had fallen to 44 degrees.  Thursday night lows are expected to be in the mid 20’s.

There will be a chance for some flurries on Friday and then a chance for some light snow on Sunday.  

November 27th, 2012 was a pretty historic day in Connecticut.  Why?  It marked the 2nd time this month that we received snow.  It's very rare to have it snow twice so early in the season but this year it did just that.  The November 7th Nor'easter brought 12 inches of snow to North Haven which caught many by surprise.  Yesterday's snowfall was barely measurable at .3 inches but it still counts!  Does this mean we will have an active wintry weather season?  Only time will tell.  

I was working in Wallingford on Tuesday and it snowed all day there but the temperatures were warm enough that none of it stuck to the pavement.  The commute home was uneventful and traffic moved right along.  However, if you went to Bethany or Cheshire you were likely to see 2-3 inches on the ground!  My friend Greg took some pictures in Bethany and it was a much different picture than here and many coastal Connecticut towns.  Our next chance for precipitation is Friday night into Saturday so stay tuned for more information.

Wednesday November 7th, 2012 will go down as a major early season snow event in Connecticut.  Weather forecasters spent days tracking the development of this early season Nor’easter. With some people still without power due to super storm Sandy,  many forecasters (including myself) looked to the computer model that predicted that hurricane with such accuracy; the European.  The Euro tracked the storm close to the shore bringing heavy rain and wind to the coastline of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and then eventually Massachusetts.  However, that scenario never played out.  The storm tracked further to the east and the cold air won the battle and all the moisture fell in the form of snow.


There were many records smashed yesterday dating back to 1953!  Bridgeport, Hartford, and Providence set records for the highest snowfall ever recorded on November 7th in their history!  Here’s a link to an article from Ralph that goes over a lot of those records. Also here are some storm totals for New Haven County:


CLINTONVILLE 13.5
HAMDEN 12.0
NORTH HAVEN 12.0
MERIDEN 10.8
WALLINGFORD 10.0
NAUGATUCK 9.1
NORTH BRANFORD 9.0
WOLCOTT 9.0
NEW HAVEN 9.0
SEYMOUR 9.0
WATERBURY 6.3
OXFORD 6.0
BEACON FALLS 5.5
ANSONIA 5.5
BRANFORD 5.0
GUILFORD 4.7




North Haven received a foot of snow yesterday!  At my weather station on Spring Road, I recorded 12 inches of snowfall and Nick DiGiovanni recorded 13.5 in the Clintonville section of town!