2021 IS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR. LET’S REVIEW THE BIG WEATHER HAPPENINGS IN NORTHEAST OHIO/WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

#1: IT WAS A WET SUMMER!

The Summer of 2021 was a soggy one, especially during the second half of the season. It was the wettest August on record! Total rainfall was almost 6 inches above average, particularly impressive in the absence of tropical system remnants crossing the area.

We also had 2 of the wettest hours on record in our region. These numbers are for the Youngstown-Warren Airport in Vienna, where 2.47” of rain fell in one hour in late July and 2.36” occurred in just an hour in Mid-August.

No surprise, considering how wet it was….but 2021 feature the 2nd most humid Summer on record.

#2: OCTOBER WAS UNSEASONABLY WARM AND RAINY

After a warm and dry September, October was one for the record books. As shown in the graphic above, rainfall totals were nearly 3” above average, making it the 3rd wettest October on record. Additionally, October was the 2nd WARMEST in recorded history! It was the warmest month compared to average in all of 2021.

#3: AFTER A SLOW START, IT WAS A BUSY SEVERE WEATHER SEASON

The chilly May weather made for a slow start to our traditional severe weather season but we made up for lost time pretty quickly. In fact, the season went into “overtime” in 2021. The very warm October helped fuel tornadic storms in the region, including 2 in Trumbull County on October 21.

The severe weather was especially prominent in the region that is covered by the Pittsburgh National Weather Service office. This graphic tells the story. Look how many tornadoes they had to deal with, including one in NE Mercer (9/22/21) and one in eastern Lawrence (5/4/21):

Pittsburgh NWS had a busy season but it was much less active in the area covered by the Cleveland office. Compare the number of issued Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings between the 2 offices in 2021:

#4: FEBRUARY-MAY WAS A WILD RIDE

After a pretty benign first 2/3 of the season, Winter finally showed up in full force in February. It was 3 degrees colder than average although we did not have a ton of snow.

The pattern then flipped and we had a fast start to Spring in March. Boy did we pay the price by May! We had snow on Mother’s Day…the 2nd consecutive year in which we had measurable snow on May 9th.

#5 A WARM, SNOW-FREE END TO THE YEAR

December defied expectations and was quite a balmy month, not only here locally but across much of the eastern 2/3 of the country.

With the warmth came a lack of snowfall. Just a paltry couple of inches at the airport and even less in other areas. It was one of the least snowy Decembers on record.

OTHER YEAR-END STATS

Precipitation totals were fairly uniform across the region in 2021. A wetter-than-average year for most.

It was the least snowy year since 2001: