Take a moment to remember 90 degrees - and other weather records for 2018
Whatcom County weather started cold and rainy, ended cold and windy, and in between was a record-setting hot and dry spell from spring through summer.
“It started to get warm in April, but July and August were the warmest months,” said Jacob DeFlitch, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“Once June hit, we started really dropping off” in terms of rainfall, DeFlitch said. “Ultimately, we were pretty dry in the latter half of the year. Every month was above-average temperature with the exception of February, March and April.”
But overall, 2018 was just a regular year of weather — filled with hot days, cold days, rainy days and windy days, DeFlitch said.
▪ 12 high temperature records were set.
▪ Warmest day of the year was 90 degrees on July 29, but it wasn’t a record high for the date.
▪ Three low-temperature records were set during the cold snap of Feb. 21-23.
▪ Coldest day of the year was 19 degrees on Feb. 23, and that broke a record for the date of 22 degrees in 1952.
▪ Mean average temperature was 51.8 degrees, excluding Dec. 31, putting the year in the top 20 warmest years.
▪ Rainiest day was Nov. 1, with 1.21 inches — a record for the date.
▪ Five days had record rainfall in 2018.
▪ Windiest day was Dec. 20, during the Solstice Eve Windstorm, with sustained winds of 41 mph and gusts to 66 mph at Bellingham International Airport.
Bellingham also set a record with only 1.49 inches of rain from May 1 to September 1, when 6.8 inches is the summer season norm.
May was the driest on record and the third-warmest on record, with 0.17 inch of rain against a normal 2.48 inches and an average temperature of 67 degrees, almost 5 degrees above normal.
But, overall, rainfall was only slightly below normal in the calendar year 2018, with 32.19 inches of rain through Dec. 30 against a normal 35.82 inches for the same period.
Snowpack is slightly above normal this winter and also last winter, and it’s a key figure because it affects not only winter sports in the mountains but also the amount of Nooksack River water available in summer.
▪ In May 2018, snowpack was 115 percent of normal in the North Cascades, which includes Mount Baker.
▪ On Dec. 29, that region was at 102 percent of normal.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
