November 2011 Review...Near Record Warmth

A persistent upper level pattern that kept the building Arctic air well to our north resulted in one of the warmest November's on record across Northern Michigan. All long term climate sites recorded one of their top ten warmest November's since consistent records began.

Despite a relatively wet month, especially across the north and west half of the area, the warm temperatures resulted in significantly below normal snowfall totals. While all sites reported below normal snowfall, this was especially true outside the typical snowbelts, where generally only trace to very light amounts (well under an inch) occurred. Looking through the historic database, this continues an uninterrupted stretch of at least a trace of snow being reported during the month of November at all the following data sites.

November Temperature Data:

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2011)**
November Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
38.8	34.1	+4.7	Tied 4th Warmest	57 / 6th	21 / 18th	40.7 / 1931	24.1 / 1933

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2011)**
November Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
39.7	34.9	+4.8	Tied 6th Warmest	63 / 6th	18 / 21st	42.5 / 1931	28.2 / 1976

**Alpena (1916 - 2011)**
November Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
39.9	35.7	+4.2	7th Warmest	62 / 6th	19 / 22nd	42.8 / 2001	28.5 / 1933

**Traverse City Airport (1897 - 2011)**
November Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
42.2	37.3	+4.9	5th Warmest	63 / 6th	21 / 23rd	44.2 / 1931	29.2 / 1951

**Gaylord** **Airport (1951 - 2011)**
November Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
37.9	33.3	+4.6	6th Warmest	61 / 6th	19 / 22nd	42.2 / 2001	27.0 / 1995

November Precipitation Data (inches):

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2011)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
4.03	3.37	+0.66	N/A	1.11 / 9th-10th	16	7.72 / 1988	0.52 / 1917

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2011)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
2.59	2.32	+0.27	N/A	1.34 / 8th-9th	9	5.10 / 1988	0.45 / 1986

**Alpena (1916 - 2011)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
1.87	2.10	-0.23	N/A	1.23 / 8th-9th	8	7.45 / 1966	0.61 / 1986

**Traverse City Cooperative Observing Station (1930 - 1993, 2001 - 2011)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
4.18	2.80	+1.38	9th Wettest	5.51 / 2005	0.41 / 1962

**Gaylord Cooperative Observing Station (1940 - 2011)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
4.17	3.28	+0.89	N/A	7.68 / 1966	0.97 / 1962

Gaylord, MI (APX): November, 2011 Monthly Observed Precipitation Valid at 12/1/2011 1200 UTC - Created 12/1/11 23:42 UTC

Gaylord, MI (APX): November, 2011 Monthly Percent of Normal Precipitation Valid at 12/1/2011 1200 UTC - Created 12/1/11 23:45 UTC

November Snowfall Data (inches):

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2011)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date(s)	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
6.9	16.3	-9.4	N/A	3.4 / 17th	5	46.8 / 1989	0.3 / 1899

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2011)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date(s)	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
Trace	9.2	-9.2	Tied Least Snowiest	N/A	0	41.9 / 1995	Trace / 2011*

**Alpena (1916 - 2011)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date(s)	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
0.2	8.2	-8.0	Tied 6th Least Snowiest	0.1 / 10th, 17th	2	34.8 / 1995	Trace / 1954*

**Traverse City Cooperative Observing Station (1930 - 1993, 2001 - 2011)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
2.4	9.0	-6.6	N/A	26.7 / 1951	Trace / 2009

**Gaylord Cooperative Observing Station (1940 - 2011)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
8.1	19.6	-11.5	N/A	63.0 / 1995	Trace / 1984

- all averages are calculated using the new 1981 - 2010 period

( ) = Consistent years of record; Record temperature data for Gaylord is a combination of Gaylord Airport (2001- 2011) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (1951-2001), Record precipitation data for Traverse City is a combination of Cherry Capital Airport (1930-1993) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (2001-2011)

- only rankings in the top 10 will be entered

* = Record occurred in multiple years; latest year shown

**THESE DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FINAL QUALITY CONTROL BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER. THEREFORE, THESE DATA ARE SUBJECT TO REVISION. FINAL AND CERTIFIED CLIMATE DATA CAN BE ACCESSED AT WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV.**

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* Data for Traverse City is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Cherry Capital Airport and the cooperative observing station at Munson Medical Center. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data…particularly snowfall data from 1996-2001.

**Data for Gaylord is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Gaylord-Otsego County Airport and the cooperative observing station located near downtown Gaylord. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data and data that has been recorded from different observing points throughout history.

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November 2011 Review...Near Record Warmth