Tag Archives: Ohio winters

Winter 2023-2024 Review

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The Winter 2023-2024 review is finally here, and it shows that yet another cold season never really showed up. 2023-2024 was a top 5 warmest winter on record. Outside of a short break in January, warmth persisted for almost the entire winter, likely courtesy of the strong El Niño. This contributed to well below normal snowfall.
The below stats represent both the traditional winter season of December-February, and also the overall cold season of October-April. Rankings are accurate as to the time of the posting.

December-February
Traditional winter numbers, 1991-2020 departures from normal where relevant, and overall winter rankings.
Average High: 45.7 (+5.9) 5th Warmest
Average Low: 30.2 (+5.7) 6th Warmest
Mean: 37.9 (+5.7) 5th Warmest
Coldest High: 16 on January 15th and 16th
Coldest Low: 6 on January 15th and 20th
Coldest Mean: 11 on January 15th
# of 32 or Below Highs: 9 (-16.8) Tied for 4th Fewest
# of 32 or Below Lows: 53 (-15.8) 5th Fewest
Warmest High: 67 on February 26th and 27th
Warmest Low: 56 on February 27th
Warmest Mean: 62 on February 27th
Precipitation: 9.29″ (+0.75″) 38th Wettest
Snowfall: 12.4″ (-9.8″) 37th Least Snowiest
Average Daily Snow Depth: 0.2″ (-0.6″) Tied for 3rd Lowest
Maximum Snow Depth: 4″ on February 17th
Largest Snowstorm: 4.4″ on February 16th
1″+ Snowfall Events: 3 Tied for 4th Fewest
# of Measurable Precipitation Days: 37 (-2.1) Tied for 13th Fewest
# of Measurable Snowfall Days: 13 (-8.4) Tied for 9th Fewest
Highest Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH: 20.8 on January 13th
Highest Wind Gust in MPH: 53 on February 28th
# of Clear Days: 12 13.19%
# of Partly Cloudy Days: 23 25.27%
# of Cloudy Days: 56 61.54%

Entire Cold Season: October-April
Average High: 54.7 2nd Warmest
Average Low: 36.6 6th Warmest
Mean: 45.6 3rd Warmest
Precipitation: 22.82″ 32nd Wettest
Snowfall: 12.6″ 22nd Least Snowiest
Average Snow Depth: 0.1″ Tied for 2nd Lowest
Largest Snowstorm: 4.4″ on February 16th
# of 32 or Below Highs: 10 Tied for 1st Fewest
# of 32 or Below Lows: 84 7th Fewest
# of Measurable Precipitation Days: 76 Tied for 11th Fewest
# of Measurable Snowfall Days: 14 Tied for 5th Fewest
Highest Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH: 20.8 on January 13th
Highest Wind Gust in MPH: 53 on February 28th
# of Clear Days: 30 14.1%
# of Partly Cloudy Days: 62 29.1%
# of Cloudy Days: 121 56.8%

Average High By Month
October 2023: 67.0 Tied for 34th Warmest
November 2023: 54.8 Tied for 18th Warmest
December 2023: 48.4 5th Warmest
January 2024: 37.4 Tied for 50th Warmest
February 2024: 51.8 Tied for 2nd Warmest
March 2024: 56.6 12th Warmest
April 2024: 66.9 Tied for 12th Warmest

High Temperature Records Set
2/28/2024- A record high of 67 was set, breaking the old record of 65 set in 1939.

Average Low By Month
October 2023: 48.2 Tied for 21st Warmest
November 2023: 33.7 Tied for 33rd Coldest
December 2023: 35.3 2nd Warmest
January 2024: 25.9 27th Warmest
February 2024: 29.2 16th Warmest
March 2024: 36.4 Tied for 19th Warmest
April 2024: 47.0 3rd Warmest

Low Temperature Records Set
10/28/2023- A record warm minimum of 62 was set, breaking the old record of 61 set in 1918.
2/10/2024- A record warm minimum of 49 was set, breaking the old record of 47 set in 1938.
2/27/2024- A record warm minimum of 56 was set, breaking the old record of 48 set in 1996.

Mean By Month
October 2023: 57.6 22nd Warmest
November 2023: 44.2 Tied for 26th Warmest
December 2023: 41.8 Tied for 4th Warmest
January 2024: 31.7 Tied for 43rd Warmest
February 2024: 40.5 5th Warmest
March 2024: 46.5 Tied for 14th Warmest
April 2024: 57.0 6th Warmest

Precipitation By Month
October 2023: 3.11″ Tied for 34th Wettest
November 2023: 1.89″ 40th Driest
December 2023: 3.25″ Tied for 44th Wettest
January 2024: 4.81″ 16th Wettest
February 2024: 1.23″ 20th Driest
March 2024: 2.66″ 49th Driest
April 2024: 5.87″ 8th Wettest

Precipitation Records Set
1/9/2024- A record of 1.44″ was set, breaking the old record of 0.86″ set in 1898.
2/2/2024- A record of 2.05″ was set, breaking the old record of 1.51″ set in 1977.

Snowfall By Month
October 2023: Trace Tied for 2nd Least Snowiest
November 2023: Trace Tied for 2nd Least Snowiest
December 2023: 0.4″ Tied for 6th Least Snowiest
January 2024: 5.0″ Tied for 37th Least Snowiest
February 2024: 7.0″ Tied for 40th Snowiest
March 2024: 0.2″ Tied for 3rd Least Snowiest
April 2024: Trace Tied for 2nd Least Snowiest

2023-2024 was the 9th consecutive season that had no snowfall events above 5″. This is the 2nd longest such period on record, surpassed only by the 14-year stretch of 1919-1933.

Average Snow Depth By Month
October 2023: 0.0″
November 2023: Trace
December 2023: Trace
January 2024: 0.2″
February 2024: 0.4″
March 2024: 0.0″
April 2024: 0.0″

Maximum High By Month
October 2023: 87 on the 2nd and 3rd
November 2023: 73 on the 8th
December 2023: 62 on the 25th
January 2024: 61 on the 26th
February 2024: 67 on the 26th and 27th
March 2024: 75 on the 4th
April 2024: 84 on the 16th and 29th

Minimum High By Month
October 2023: 47 on the 31st
November 2023: 30 on the 28th
December 2023: 34 on the 19th
January 2024: 16 on the 15th and 16th
February 2024: 27 on the 17th
March 2024: 36 on the 18th
April 2024: 45 on the 5th

Maximum Low By Month
October 2023: 63 on the 5th
November 2023: 46 on the 7th
December 2023: 51 on the 26th
January 2024: 48 on the 25th
February 2024: 56 on the 27th
March 2024: 51 on the 5th
April 2024: 64 on the 27th and 28th

Minimum Low By Month
October 2023: 29 on the 31st
November 2023: 17 on the 29th
December 2023: 22 on the 14th
January 2024: 6 on the 15th and 20th
February 2024: 13 on the 18th
March 2024: 23 on the 21st and 24th
April 2024: 31 on the 7th

Highest Daily Precipitation by Month
October 2023: 0.72″ on the 19th
November 2023: 0.93″ on the 21st
December 2023: 0.6″ on the 17th
January 2024: 1.44″ on the 9th
February 2024: 0.72″ on the 22nd
March 2024: 0.44″ on the 26th
April 2024: 2.05″ on the 2nd

Highest Daily Snowfall By Month
October 2023: Trace on the 31st
November 2023: Trace on the 27th
December 2023: 0.3″ on the 18th
January 2024: 2.2″ on the 19th
February 2024: 4.4″ on the 16th
March 2024: 0.2″ on the 10th
April 2024: Trace on the 4th and 17th

Deepest Snow Depth By Month
October 2023: 0.0″ on all days.
November 2023: 0.0″ on all days.
December 2023: Trace on the 19th
January 2024: 2″ on the 20th
February 2024: 4″ on the 17th
March 2024: 0.0″ on all days.
April 2024: 0.0″ on all days.

Average Daily Wind Speed by Month in MPH
October 2023: 7.0
November 2023: 7.2
December 2023: 7.3
January 2024: 9.2
February 2024: 8.0
March 2024: 9.3
April 2024: 9.4

Highest Wind Gust by Month in MPH
October 2023: 34 on the 6th
November 2023: 35 on the 27th
December 2023: 43 on the 18th
January 2024: 44 on the 13th
February 2024: 53 on the 28th
March 2024: 47 on the 14th
April 2024: 43 on the 12th and 17th

Clear Days by Month
October 2023: 5 16.13%
November 2023: 10 33.33%
December 2023: 4 12.9%
January 2024: 0 0.0%
February 2024: 7 24.14%
March 2024: 3 9.68%
April 2024: 3 10.0%

Partly Cloudy Days by Month
October 2023: 11 35.48%
November 2023: 13 43.33%
December 2023: 7 22.58%
January 2024: 8 25.81%
February 2024: 17 58.62%
March 2024: 18 58.06%
April 2024: 15 50.0%

Cloudy Days by Month
October 2023: 15 48.39%
November 2023: 7 23.33%
December 2023: 20 64.52%
January 2024: 23 74.19%
February 2024: 5 17.24%
March 2024: 10 32.26%
April 2024: 12 40.0%

The overall cold period saw relatively fewer cloudy days than normal. December and January were cloudier than normal, but November, February and March were less so than normal.

Other Notable Winter 2023-2024 Events

The Columbus Tornado History page gives greater detail on the February 28th, March 14th and April 2nd tornadic events.

El Niño and Columbus Winter History

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Columbus winter history El Niño

A small snow event should affect the Columbus area today into tomorrow morning, with forecasts calling for up to 2″ of snow when all’s said and done. While by no means a significant event, it could end up being one of the largest snowfalls of the entire 2023-2024 winter season. The reason- El Niño.

El Niño winters in Ohio tend to be much warmer than normal with much below normal snowfall. This is especially true when the El Niño is moderate to strong, as it is now. Let’s take a look back at how different ENSO states (or El Nino Southern Oscillation) produced different results in Columbus winter history.

ENSO conditions come in 3 different forms- El Niño, which is when the Equatorial Pacific is warmer than normal, Neutral, when the waters are neither cold nor warm, and La Niña, which features colder than normal Equatorial Pacific waters.
Since the 1950-1951 season, there have been 24 Neutral seasons, 25 La Niña seasons and 25 El Niño seasons, so the breakdown has been very even. Because there is a lag because Pacific water temperatures and atmospheric response, the conditions that affect winter weather can typically be traced back to Fall water temperatures rather than winter. To see how 2023-2024 might shape up, we have to look at the September-October-November Pacific water temperature anomalies. During that time, the anomaly was +1.8. Which seasons had an anomaly of +1.5 to +2 during September-October-November? As it turns out, not very many- only 1965, 1972, 1982 and 1987.

How were those 4 subsequent winters in terms of temperature and snowfall?
Mean Temperature
1965-1966: 29.4
1972-1973: 32.8
1982-1983: 34.7
1987-1988: 30.5
Avg: 31.9
Temperatures overall were somewhat split, with 2 winters being slightly below normal and 2 winters with well-above normal temperatures, with the average of the 4 being slightly above.
Snowfall
1965-1966: 17.5″
1972-1973: 24.5″
1982-1983: 11.5″
1987-1988: 23.9″
Avg: 19.4″
Snowfall was well below normal in all 4 seasons, with an average of about 8″ below normal.
The snowfall that did fall typically came in 1-2 moderate events with very little otherwise.
1965-1966
5.9″ 1/22/66
3.7″ 2/1/66
1.2″ 1/29/66
1965-1966 had a few moderate events, but the 3 days here were the only 3 days during the entire winter that featured an inch or more of daily snowfall. This winter also occurred during a generally snowier, colder decade.
1972-1973
6.3″ 4/12/1973
4.0″ 11/30/1972
2.1″ 3/17/1973
1972-1973 again featured a few moderate events as well that contained the bulk of the season’s snow. The interesting thing about this winter is that those events occurred outside of the main December-January-February heart of winter.
1982-1983
1.9″ 2/6/1983, 3/11/1983
1.1″ 1/15/1983
1.0″ 12/10/1982
1982-1983 ended up being what’s called a Super ENSO event, with a very strong El Niño. Temperatures were very warm the entire winter, and snowfall was less than 50% of normal.
1987-1988
4.7″ 1/25/1988
1.8″ 12/3/1987
1.6″ 2/11/1988
1987-1988 only had a single moderate event, with most other snowfalls during the season amounting to a few tenths.

Bottom line: Don’t expect major snowfalls this winter.

Now, these are just 4 seasons. Other slightly stronger or weaker El Niño seasons produced very different results. Furthermore, the orientation of where the warmest water is in the Pacific can have very different outcomes. For example, if the warmer water is hugging the coast of South America, winters tend to be warmer and snowless, but if that warmer water is centered further west in the Pacific, winters can be very cold and snowy. For example, both the winters of 2002-2003 and 2009-2010 were west-based El Niño seasons, and they were historically snowy and cold winters. 2023-2024 is decidedly an east-based Niño, however, so it’s unlikely we will see anything but a rather boring winter with warmer than normal temperatures and below average snowfall. Obviously, depending on your viewpoint, that could be a very good thing.