6.8.12 Warmest 'Spring' In Burlington - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

6.8.12 Warmest 'Spring' In Burlington

Another record.

Record heat in March has helped the Queen City secure another record: Warmest Spring. May has come to a close and that shuts the door on what we call "Meteorological Spring." Seasons in meteorology are separated into:

Winter: December - February

Spring: March - May

Summer: June - August

Autumn: September - November

Breaking the seasons down like this makes it much easier to look at data and summarize highs, lows, precipitation, snow, wind, etc. and then compare it to '30-year averages' and records that date back into the 1800s.

Here's the low down: It was the warmest meteorological spring (March, April, May 2012) on record, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).  Taking a closer look at our neck of the woods, it applied true as well.

In Burlington the average temperature (when you factor in lows and highs over the course of 92 days) for Spring 2012 was 50.3°. Thanks to Chief Meteorologist for breaking it down like this:

Mashing all those numbers together, the result comes out to be 50.3°. The previous record for warmest spring was set back in 1903! It was 49.3° so to beat the record by a degree is pretty significant, even if it doesn't sound like that much.

Notice the numbers for March and May. I know I don't have the 'typical' numbers up there on the screen, but March and May were very, very warm! Because of the 3-80° days in March and the very warm May that we had in the last couple of weeks.  Nonetheless the data shows that it was very warm across the entire Northeast.

According to Cornell University and Jessica Rennells, a climatologist and extension support specialist at the Northeast Regional Climate Center, 28 of 35 reporting stations recorded the warmest spring on record. Here are the numbers, courtesy Rennells & Cornell:

 -Meteorologist Steve Glazier