Winter, winter, what winter?
Comments (...)PRINCETON — Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that goes for the descriptions of winter too.
Some people may view winter 2012, with its mild temperatures and little snow accumulation, as the next best thing since sliced bread, while snow enthusiasts may view it as downright depressing. WQAD News Channel 8 meteorologist Anthony Peoples describes the 2012 winter as “bizarre.” Bureau County Highway Engineer John Gross said this is the winter for which the highway department has been waiting.
“This is the most bizarre Midwestern winter I’ve experienced, and this is my 11th year as a meteorologist,” Peoples said Monday.” It reminds me much more of my winters growing up in Kentucky.”
If perchance the Quad Cities area does not get any more accumulating snow this winter, this would be the least snowiest winter in Quad Cities’ history, with records going back to 1884, Peoples said. However, it’s a safe prediction the area will get some snow before the end of winter, he said.
Looking at winter statistics, Peoples said the Quad Cities area usually receives 31.6 inches of snow in a typical winter, with 25.5 inches of that snowfall coming during the “meteorological winter months” of December, January and February. However, this last December, in 2011, was a very snow-deprived month, with officially only 1.1 inches of snow recorded at the Moline International Airport, Peoples said. Typically, the Quad Cities area will get about 9.3 inches of snow in December.
Even though the December 2011 snowfall amounts were low, the month won’t be setting any records for the least amount of snowfall, as there have been at least 17 Decembers on record with less than one inch of snow, Peoples said.
Looking at January numbers, Peoples said the Quad Cities area typically averages 9.4 inches of snow for the month, but snowfall for January 2012 measured only 7.6 inches, with temperatures about 6 degrees above average.
Though Mother Nature has been stingy with her snowfall so far this winter, she has been generous with above normal temperatures, according to WQAD data. Not only did the Quad Cities set a record high temperature on Monday at 60 degrees, the entire winter has had its unusual stretches of warm weather, Peoples said.
December 2011 is the 12th warmest on record, with an average temperature of 34.1 degrees, which was 7.5 degrees above average.
Looking at more local data, Princeton has set three high temperature records so far this winter, according to information from the Princeton Water Treatment Plant.
On Jan. 5, the Princeton Water Treatment Plant set a record of 54 degrees, breaking the previous record of 52 degrees set in 1946. On Jan. 10, the Princeton Water Treatment Plant recorded a high temperature of 53 degrees, which broke the old record high of 51 degrees set in 1980. On Jan. 30, Princeton recorded a high of 58 degrees, which broke the previous record of 52 degrees set in 1974.
On Friday, Gross said it’s been a very good winter so far.
“This is the winter we’ve been waiting for for five or six years,” Gross said. “There’s been an obvious savings in fuel, in wear and tear on equipment, an obvious savings on salt and sand, and an obvious savings on overtime.”
Gross said he also expects there should be substantially less “frost heave” road damage in the spring because the frost should be less this year.
The county trucks have gone out a few times recently with the icy morning roads, but still it’s been a very good winter so far for the highway department, Gross said.
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