Great Barrington — It was an almost average December.
Temperatures were average but the precipitation was not. We had above average snowfall but below average water content and rainfall.
I have instituted a new figure in my weather calculations. The new figure is melted snow. It’s something I started including in 2013 to give you a truer picture of water accumulation each year. And this fact is what the state hydrologist is more concerned about.
You need to just look at my comments to see water reading for each snowfall in the comments section of my weather records. And check the total amount below the rain column.
I am attaching the water totals for each year I have beginning in 2013 (See charter below). With drought information so much in the news, I thought this would give you a better idea of the yearly differences.
The monthly readings for December showed the high, low and mean temperatures to be at the now 52-year average of high of 37, a low of 21, and a mean of 29.
Precipitation was not average. Even factoring in melted snow and adding that to rainfall totals did not equal the nearly 6-decade average. You will notice we received greater than normal snow, but it was a drier snow, less than the so-called 10-to-1 ratio, meaning 10 hundredths of an inch of melted snow equals one inch of snow.
And in the TOTAL AVERAGE PRECIP attachment you will notice that 2016 precipitation levels were down considerably.
December 2016 weather observations
| DATE | HI TEMP | LO TEMP | SKY | RAIN | SNOW | COMMENTS |
| 1-Dec-16 | 50 | 35 | CHANGING | 0.64 | RAIN EARLY AM. THEN PCLDY. MCLDY PM WITH VERY LIGHT RAIN | |
| 2-Dec-16 | 46 | 30 | CHANGING | BECOMING PCLDY AM. | ||
| 3-Dec-16 | 40 | 35 | CHANGING | VCLDY, WINDY | ||
| 4-Dec-16 | 36 | 26 | CHANGING | FAIR DAY. MCLDY EVENING | ||
| 5-Dec-16 | 39 | 27 | CHANGING | 0.01 | 0.4 | LIGHT SNOW (.02)EARLY AM. THEN PARTLY TO MOSTLYCLOUDY |
| 6-Dec-16 | 44 | 29 | CHANGING | CLOUDS LIFING TO FAIR AM.CLOUDING UP MID DAY. RAIN-SNOW MIXED LATE PM | ||
| 7-Dec-16 | 40 | 32 | CHANGING | 0.19 | 0.3 | TIL 6A. THEN VCLDY. |
| 8-Dec-16 | 42 | 31 | CHANGING | 0.1 | FOG LOW CLOUDS AM SNOW SQUALL 3P THEN VCLDY BREEZY | |
| 9-Dec-16 | 32 | 22 | CHANGING | SNOW SHOWER EARLY AM. WINDY THEN PCLDY TO FAIR WITH WINDS DIMINISHING. | ||
| 10-Dec-16 | 28 | 15 | FAIR | |||
| 11-Dec-16 | 32 | 11 | CHANGING | 0.8 | FAIR AM. CLOUDING UP AFT. LIGHT SNOW (.04) SUNSET TO MIDNIGHT | |
| 12-Dec-16 | 39 | 28 | CHANGING | 5 | SNOW (.56) TIL 7A. THEN RAIN. | |
| 13-Dec-16 | 40 | 26 | CHANGING | 0.6 | CLOUDING UP MID DAY. LIGHT SNOW (.03) EVENING | |
| 14-Dec-16 | 34 | 15 | CHANGING | 1 | EARLY AM LIGHT SNOW (.04). THEN PCLDY. | |
| 15-Dec-16 | 27 | 9 | CHANGING | 1 | VCLDY WINDY. SNOW (.04) EARLY EVENING THEN CLEAR | |
| 16-Dec-16 | 20 | -1 | CHANGING | CLOUDING U P MID AFT. | ||
| 17-Dec-16 | 28 | 18 | CLOUDY | 5.1 | SNOW (.76) MIDNIGHT TIL MID DAY. WINDY | |
| 18-Dec-16 | 50 | 22 | CHANGING | 0.89 | RAIN MIDNIGHT TIL MID DAY. THEN WINDY AND COLDER | |
| 19-Dec-16 | 23 | 5 | FAIR | |||
| 20-Dec-16 | 28 | 0 | FAIR | |||
| 21-Dec-16 | 38 | 10 | CHANGING | CLOUDING UP AT SUNSET | ||
| 22-Dec-16 | 42 | 21 | CLOUDY | SNOW CENTRAL BERKSHIRE, NOT HERE | ||
| 23-Dec-16 | 42 | 26 | FAIR | PCLDY | ||
| 24-Dec-16 | 40 | 28 | CHANGING | 0.27 | LIGHT SNOW QUICKLY TO RAIN AM. SOME SUINSHINE AFTERNOON. OTHERWIDE MCLDY | |
| 25-Dec-16 | 43 | 27 | CHANGING | BECOMING PCLDY AM. WINDY | ||
| 26-Dec-16 | 45 | 15 | CHANGING | 0.05 | CLOUDING UP MIDDAY. PERIODS OF VERY LIGHT RAIN & DRIZZLE HI TEMP11:51P | |
| 27-Dec-16 | 53 | 35 | CHANGING | 0.06 | LIGHT RAIN DRIZZLE AM. THEN VCLDY WINDY | |
| 28-Dec-16 | 35 | CHANGING | VCLDY BREEZY WITH A FEW FLURRIES. | |||
| 29-Dec-16 | 34 | 26 | CLOUDY | 4.1 | SNOW (.36) 8A TIL 5P. | |
| 30-Dec-16 | 36 | 25 | CHANGING | 0.5 | VCLDY. WINDY. SNOW FLURRIES AND SQUALL (.02) LATE PM. | |
| 31-Dec-16 | 37 | 14 | CHANGING | CLEARING EARLY AM. BECOMING MCLDY LATE AM. LIGHT SNOW (.01)EVENING | ||
| TOTALS | 37 | 21 | 2.11 | 18.9 | AVERAGE: TEMPERATURE: 37/21 MEAN: 29 RAIN: 2.94″ SNOW: 15.1 | |
| MELTED SNOW | 1.84 |
Total average precipitation by month
| MONTH | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | ||
| JAN | 1.25 | 3.89 | 3.67 | 2.24 | ||
| FEB | 5.03 | 2.38 | 4.53 | 2.65 | ||
| MAR | 2.35 | 2.02 | 3.69 | 2.53 | ||
| APR | 3.61 | 3.42 | 4.21 | 1.88 | ||
| MAY | 3.18 | 1.59 | 3.27 | 6.29 | ||
| JUN | 2.87 | 8.58 | 4.5 | 8.12 | ||
| JUL | 2.78 | 2.86 | 11.79 | 4.22 | ||
| AUG | 2.71 | 5.06 | 1.5 | 5.3 | ||
| SEP | 2.64 | 3.98 | 0.99 | 5.38 | ||
| OCT | 5.22 | 2.15 | 6.14 | 1.74 | ||
| NOV | 5.14 | 2.09 | 3.32 | 3.67 | ||
| DEC | 3.95 | 3.61 | 4.76 | 3.76 | ||
| TOTAL | 40.73 | 41.63 | 52.37 | 47.78 |
