Jiminy Peak ski area in Hancock, Massachusetts, just north of Pittsfield.

Nick Diller weather summary: December 2017 was warmest, then coldest

By Nick Diller Monday, Jan 1, 2018 Life In the Berkshires

Great Barrington — December 2017 went from one of warmest to one of the coldest Decembers. Before Christmas day, Great Barrington and the northeast in general were much warmer than average. But beginning Christmas night, it all changed from warmer to much colder. Before Christmas, the average high and low temperature was 37 and 22. The averages for the last 6 days were 20 and 5. And add the wind and it made it feel much colder.

The average high and low temperatures for the month were 33 and 18, for a mean of 25.5, three degrees below average. It turned to be the 8th coldest since 1965.

As far as precipitation is concerned, December was drier than average. The total melted precipitation came to a little less than two and a-quarter inches, which was three-quarters below the month’s average.

The year finished with nine of 12 months drier than average and three inches below the average for the year. On the other hand, that was three inches more than the drought-stricken 2016.

So, the new year is beginning on the same pattern as the old year ended.

DATE	HI TEMP	LO TEMP	SKY	RAIN	SNOW	COMMENTS
1-Dec-17	45	26	FAIR
2-Dec-17	41	25	FAIR
3-Dec-17	43	22	CHANGING			VCLDY
4-Dec-17	43	26	CHANGING			MCLDY AM. PCLDY AFTERNOON. MCLDY EVENING
5-Dec-17	55	39	CLOUDY	0.47		DRIZZLE THRU MID AFT. THEN RAIN TIL 11P. HI TEMP 7;20p.
6-Dec-17	55		CHANGING	0.18		RAIN EARLY AM. THEN CLEARING. FAIR PM. HI TEMP 4:24A
7-Dec-17	42	26	CHANGING			Vvcldy
8-Dec-17	37	21	CHANGING			CLOUDING UP MID MORNING.
9-Dec-17	32	27	CLOUDY		6	HI TEMP 9A. SNOW (.29″) 11A TIL 9P
10-Dec-17	37	22	CHANGING			CLEARING AT SUNRISE TO A PCLDY DAY.
11-Dec-17	38	26	CHANGING			PCLDY DAY. MCLDY EVENING
12-Dec-17	36	23	CLOUDY	0.54	2.7	SNOW EARLY AM CHANGING TO RAIN AND BACK TO SNOW AT SUNSET. PCLDY LATE PPM
13-Dec-17	23	16	CHANGING		0.1	EARLY AM SNOW SHOWER. THEN PCDY
14-Dec-17	24	15	CHANGING		0.7	SNOW (.02) EARLY AM THEN FAIR. WINDY.
15-Dec-17	24	7	CHANGING		0.3	FAIR AM. MCLDY AFT & EARLY EVE WITH VERY LIGHT SNOW(.01) CLEAR LATE PM.
16-Dec-17	29	9	CHANGING			FAIR AM. MCLDY PM
17-Dec-17	27	7	CHANGING			FAIR AM. MCLDY PM.
18-Dec-17	37	23	CHANGING			AM CXLOUDS THEN FAIRF
19-Dec-17	49	33	CHANGING			VCLDY
20-Dec-17	43	30	CHANGING			PCLDY DAY. MCLDY EVENING
21-Dec-17	31	23	CHANGING			CLOUDS LIFTING TO A FAIR DAY.
22-Dec-17	31	25	CLOUDY		0.2	VERY LIGHT SNOW
23-Dec-17	38	24	CHANGING	0.64	0.2	EARLY AM SNOW THEN RAIN TIL EARLY EVENING. THEN PCLDY LATE PM
24-Dec-17	37	31	CHANGING			PCLDY DAY. MCLDY EVENIONG
25-Dec-17	33	27	CHANGING		4.1	SNOW (.34″)MIDNIGHT TIL 10A THEN PCLDY TO CLEAR WINDY.
26-Dec-17	23	7	FAIR			BREEZY
27-Dec-17	18	-2	FAIR
28-Dec-17	9	-1	FAIR			BECOMING WINDY (23MPH)AROUND 2A.
29-Dec-17	13	-1	FAIR
30-Dec-17	29	-1	CHANGING		0.3	CLOUDING UP SUNRISE. BRIEF LIGHT SNOW (.01) AM. THEN PCLDY.
31-Dec-17	11	0	FAIR			BECOMING WINDY AT 3A. TEMPS BRIFLY RISING TO 11 THEN SETTLING BACK TO SINGLE DIGETS
	33	18	Nean-25.5	1.83	14.6	Aaverage: Tempature=37/20 Mean=28.5 Rain-2.95″ Snow=14.6′
				total-2.21

Total Yearly Precipitation

MONTH	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
JAN	2.24	3.67	3.89	1.25	3.07
FEB	2.65	4.53	2.38	5.03	2.07
MAR	2.53	3.69	2.02	2.35	5.06
APR	1.88	4.21	3.42	3.61	3.43
MAY	6.29	3.27	1.59	3.18	6.72
JUN	8.12	4.5	8.58	2.87	4.56
JUL	4.22	11.79	2.86	2.78	4.36
AUG	5.3	1.5	5.06	2.71	3.36
SEP	5.38	0.99	3.98	2.64	2.6
OCT	1.74	6.14	2.15	5.22	5.44
NOV	3.67	3.32	2.09	5.14	1.55
DEC	3.76	4.76	3.61	3.95	2.21
TOTAL	47.78	52.37	41.63	40.73	44.43