Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

December weather odd

December was a mixture of warm and cold weather, with highs reaching 75 and lows falling to 24 during the month.

Such is how 2001 came to an end, cold and wet.

According to local weather watcher Phillip McAdams, the temperature hit 75 degrees on three consecutive days, Dec. 5-7, with the mercury falling to 24 on Christmas Day.

The mean high and low, he said, were 57 and 35 degrees respectively.

December was also a wet month, with 8.18 inches of rain falling, most of it coming on in a one week period. In fact, McAdams said, all but 0.97 inch fell between Dec. 11 and 17.

There was snow in December, just not for Christmas. On Dec. 30, the area received a tenth of an inch of the white stuff.

Davis Benton, the Cale meteorologist, said the south part of the county got 9.17 inches of rain during December.

Benton said the area received 74.50 inches of rain during the year, which is about 20 inches above normal.

With the exception of July, August and September, the other nine months experienced above average rainfall.

For the year, he said, the low temperature was 9 degrees on Jan. 3, 2001, when the county was in the midst of an ice storm, with the hottest day being July 11, when the thermometer read 102.

According to McAdams, the rainfall for Prescott in 2001 was 79.59 inches, with the 76.09 inches being nothing but rain. The other 3.5 inches were ice and snow.

The lowest the mercury dropped to, McAdams said, was 9 degrees on Jan. 3-4, with the hottest day being 98 degrees on Aug. 5.