National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

With 2012 being the warmest year on record at NWS Marquette since observations began in 1961, the number of record highs and lows broken/tied each year since 2000 was compiled for comparison. A word of caution, though, is that the number of records broken in a year does not necessarily mean the year was extremely warm/cold compared to normal.

2012 saw 15 record highs broken/tied, with a majority of those coming during a very warm stretch in March. Since 2009, the only two record lows broken/tied occurred on back-to-back days in September 2011. Provided below is a table of records since 2000 and an associated graph.

An obscure record comes from the -12F minimum temperature recorded on 1/20/2012. This was the coldest temperature observed during the winter of 2011-2012, and ties two other winters (1994-1995, 2001-2002) as the highest overall minimum temperature for a winter at NWS Marquette. Simply put, a temperature colder than -12F has been achieved in at least every winter since 1961 (except '94-'95 and '01-'02).