December 2012 Weather Summary

I have to admit that it was a little frustrating not being able to use my camera a little more often for the month of December. When it comes to how it felt just being outside, however, the weather was absolutely wonderful. There might have been a couple days that a light jacket didn't fully address a combination of cold, wet, and windy, but most days were mild. Some even felt too warm for that light jacket. We also had a lot of refreshing showers. Even though we have a lot of great Decembers, I had a feeling that this one was still going to rate highly in the Washingtonian Weather Index. It turns out that our final two days dropped us from our fourth best December down to our sixth best.

Since we finished December, I now have the scores for the entire year. How did we do? Not bad. Out of 64 years of data (plus an incomplete year not included), 2012 was the 16th best statistically. We started strong, and we finished strong. It's just too bad that our summer was so uncooperative. I don't have an easy way at this time to exclude August and September, but I wouldn't be surprised if those two months kept us out of the top 10.

December Summary
Date	High	Low	Rain	Score
12/1	56˚	47˚	0.16"	93.84%
12/2	47˚	45˚	0.77"	86.67%
12/3	49˚	45˚	0.51"	89.38%
12/4	53˚	45˚	0.56"	92.23%
12/5	48˚	40˚	0.06"	78.44%
12/6	45˚	43˚	0.06"	78.39%
12/7	46˚	38˚	0.04"	71.17%
12/8	44˚	38˚	0"	50.06%
12/9	44˚	37˚	0.06"	73.12%
12/10	45˚	42˚	0.02"	69.18%
12/11	46˚	42˚	0.12"	87.87%
12/12	44˚	40˚	0.32"	83.93%
12/13	45˚	38˚	0.09"	80.98%
12/14	43˚	34˚	0.31"	78.70%
12/15	40˚	33˚	0.21"	76.09%
12/16	44˚	38˚	0.89"	79.85%
12/17	47˚	35˚	0.08"	78.15%
12/18	39˚	33˚	0.13"	75.69%
12/19	47˚	35˚	0.54"	81.48%
12/20	45˚	33˚	0.52"	78.53%
12/21	47˚	29˚	0.07"	71.52%
12/22	47˚	39˚	0.13"	86.34%
12/23	45˚	38˚	0.26"	83.47%
12/24	42˚	37˚	0.01"	61.00%
12/25	42˚	37˚	0.53"	79.19%
12/26	44˚	38˚	0.18"	83.06%
12/27	46˚	38˚	0.16"	84.69%
12/28	47˚	39˚	Trace	64.23%
12/29	41˚	38˚	0.06"	71.56%
12/30	40˚	32˚	0"	42.48%
12/31	38˚	30˚	0"	39.44%
Average/Final Score				75.83%

For more information on how scores have been generated, visit my blog post at:

http://maritimeorca0.blogspot.com/2012/03/follow-up-weather-index-in-excel.html

The Month of December Over the Years
Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score
1	1950	80.16%		18	1980	70.65%		34	1954	67.27%		50	1992	64.05%
2	1958	78.25%		19	2001	70.31%		35	2007	67.17%		51	2008	63.79%
3	1966	77.81%		20	1967	70.30%		36	1961	67.16%		52	1987	63.48%
4	1969	77.47%		21	1965	70.09%		37	2005	67.10%		53	1997	63.04%
5	1973	77.30%		22	1963	69.64%		38	1988	67.06%		54	1989	63.03%
6	2012	75.83%		23	1977	69.48%		39	1982	66.69%		55	1964	62.74%
7	1957	75.33%		24	1999	68.81%		40	1956	66.57%		56	1948	61.60%
8	1979	74.59%		25	1994	68.76%		41	1986	66.30%		57	1951	61.34%
9	1981	73.76%		26	1971	68.59%		42	1968	65.93%		58	1984	61.07%
10	1952	73.02%		27	1949	68.49%		43	1976	65.72%		59	1960	60.82%
11	2003	72.92%		28	1975	68.41%		44	1970	65.64%		60	1990	60.03%
12	1974	72.81%		29	1962	68.36%		45	1955	65.05%		61	1983	59.34%
13	2002	72.45%		30	2004	68.30%		46	2006	65.03%		62	2009	57.14%
14	2010	72.37%		31	1995	68.17%		47	1993	64.72%		63	2011	57.01%
15	1953	71.80%		32	1959	67.65%		48	1972	64.48%		64	1978	56.83%
16	1991	71.48%		33	1998	67.64%		49	2000	64.19%		65	1985	49.81%
17	1996	70.88%

Keep in mind that scores are based off of averages. These values are likely to shift a little over time.

Full Year Scores - January through December
Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score
1	1953	69.65%		17	1973	65.50%		33	1963	64.22%		49	1994	63.20%
2	2010	68.44%		18	1960	65.36%		34	1977	64.15%		50	2003	63.19%
3	1999	67.42%		19	1980	65.18%		35	2000	64.09%		51	2005	62.94%
4	1959	67.18%		20	1961	64.94%		36	1995	64.01%		52	1949	62.91%
5	1954	67.15%		21	1958	64.89%		37	1990	64.00%		53	1952	62.84%
6	1983	66.60%		22	2001	64.88%		38	1978	63.99%		54	1992	62.74%
7	1968	66.28%		23	1996	64.87%		39	1975	63.97%		55	2002	62.68%
8	1966	66.08%		24	1997	64.81%		40	2008	63.97%		56	1951	62.62%
9	1955	66.08%		25	1986	64.75%		41	1988	63.76%		57	1976	62.61%
10	1964	66.00%		26	1974	64.57%		42	1956	63.70%		58	1993	62.56%
11	1981	65.98%		27	2007	64.45%		43	1982	63.64%		59	1989	62.54%
12	1971	65.91%		28	1957	64.43%		44	1965	63.52%		60	1979	62.04%
13	1962	65.89%		29	1998	64.39%		45	1969	63.48%		61	1967	61.88%
14	1950	65.89%		30	1970	64.35%		46	2006	63.34%		62	1987	61.66%
15	1984	65.79%		31	2011	64.28%		47	2004	63.25%		63	2009	60.50%
16	2012	65.70%		32	1972	64.24%		48	1991	63.21%		64	1985	59.14%