Tag Archives: Weather history

Christmas Day Climatology

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Christmas Day climatology Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio weather is has varied wildly over the 143 years of records, and the holidays are no different. It’s seen record warmth into the 60s, and record cold well below zero, as well as heavy snow and driving rainstorms. The records below break down Columbus’ historic Christmas Day climatology.

Normals 1991-2020
High: 35.6
Low: 23.1
Mean: 26.8
Precipitation: 0.10″
Snowfall: 0.1″

1878-2020 Averages
High: 36.4
Low: 23.5
Mean: 30.1
Precipitation: 0.08″
Snowfall: 0.3″

First, let’s take a look at the temperature breakdowns for the holiday.

Top 10 Coldest Highs
1. 1983: 1
2. 1878: 10
3. 1924: 11
4. 1980: 15
5. 1902: 16
6. 1985: 17
7. 2020: 18
8. 1884, 2000: 19
9. 1899, 1906, 1914:20
10. 1950, 1968: 22

Top 10 Coldest Lows
1. 1983: -12
2. 1980: -5
3. 1935: -4
4. 1924: -3
5. 1878: -2
6. 2004: -1
7. 1985: 1
8. 2000: 2
9. 1884: 4
10. 1914, 1999: 7

Top 10 Warmest Highs
1. 1893: 64
2. 1982: 63
3. 1932, 1940: 62
4. 1889: 60
5. 1964: 58
6. 1895, 1955: 57
7. 2019: 56
8. 1891: 55
9. 1936, 2015: 53
10. 1888, 1915, 1987: 52

Top 10 Warmest Lows
1. 1889, 1982: 55
2. 1895: 52
3. 1893: 49
4. 1891: 45
5. 2015: 43
6. 1932, 1940: 40
7. 1888, 1964, 1973: 39
8. 1987: 38
9. 1922, 1941, 2009, 2016: 37
10. 1936, 1972: 36

Number of Christmases with High Temperature
Less than 10: 1
10-19: 8
20-29: 24
30-39: 54
40-49: 36
50-59: 12
60 or Higher: 5

Number of Christmases with Low Temperature
Less than 0: 6
0-9: 7
10-19: 36
20-29: 47
30-39: 38
40-49: 5
50 or Higher: 4



Now let’s example precipitation and snowfall records.

Top 10 Wettest
1. 2009: 0.79″
2. 1944: 0.77″
3. 1926: 0.69″
4. 1951: 0.58″
5. 2006: 0.57″
6. 1945: 0.54″
7. 1957: 0.52″
8. 1987, 2005: 0.51″
9. 1915: 0.48″
10. 1909: 0.47″

Number of Christmases with Precipitation Amount
0.00″: 46
Trace: 27
0.01″-0.24″: 55
0.25″-0.49″: 6
0.50″-0.74″: 7
0.75″-0.99″: 2
1.00″ or More: 0

Top 10 Snowiest
1. 1890: 7.0″
2. 1909: 5.7″
3. 1950: 3.0″
4. 1917: 2.5″
5. 1969: 2.3″
6. 1884: 2.2″
7. 1976: 1.9″
8. 1880: 1.8″
9. 1935: 1.3″
10. 1944: 1.2″

Most Snow on the Ground (Since 1940)
1. 1960: 9″
2. 1961, 1963, 1989, 1995: 4″
3. 1969, 1980, 2004: 3″
4. 1947, 1950, 2000: 2″
5. 1944, 1945, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2010, 2017: 1″

Number of Christmases with Snowfall Amount
0.0″: 75
Trace: 23
0.1″-0.4″: 20
0.5″-0.9″: 9
1″-2.9″: 7
3″ or More: 3



Columbus’ Halloween Climatology

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Columbus' Halloween climatology

Halloween in Columbus has historically not been as volatile as some other holidays. If anything, a bit of rain and chilly temperatures are what ruin the festivities more often than not. This post examines Columbus’ Halloween climatology across several categories. Data comes from historic records and the Wilmington National Weather Service.

Here are the temperature extremes that have occurred.

Top 10 Coldest Highs
1. 1906: 38
2. 1993: 39
3. 1878, 1895: 40
4. 1913, 1923, 1954: 41
5. 1885, 1917, 2012: 42
6. 1890: 43
7. 1908, 1925, 1926, 2017: 44
8. 1898, 1905: 45
9. 1930, 1976: 46
10. 1879, 1931, 2002: 47

Top 10 Coldest Lows
1. 1887: 20
2. 1962, 1988: 25
3. 1923: 27
4. 1908, 1925: 28
5. 1885, 1893, 1913, 1917, 1953, 1975: 29
6. 1904, 1906: 30
7. 1878, 1938, 1954, 1968: 31
8. 1928, 1934, 1949, 1958, 1964, 1976, 1980, 2000: 32
9. 1879, 1926, 1930, 2017: 33
10.1890, 1936, 1951, 1966, 1969, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2010: 34

Top 10 Coldest Means
1. 1906, 1923: 34
2. 1913: 35
3. 1878, 1885, 1908, 1917, 1925, 1954: 36
4. 1887, 1962, 1993: 37
5. 1895: 38
6. 1890, 1926, 1976, 1988, 2017 39
7. 1879, 1930, 2012: 40
8. 2002: 41
9. 1893, 1894, 1898, 1905, 1975, 1996: 42
10. 1939, 1955, 2010: 43

Top 10 Warmest Highs
1. 1950: 83
2. 1974: 80
3. 1900: 79
4. 1927, 1933: 78
5. 1979, 2003: 75
6. 1882, 1901, 1982, 1999: 74
7. 1909, 1990: 73
8. 1888, 1935, 1944, 1987 72
9. 1915, 1971: 71
10. 1919: 70

Top 10 Warmest Lows
1. 1919: 61
2. 1882: 60
3. 2003: 59
4. 1927, 1929: 58
5. 1900, 1956, 2013: 57
6. 1921, 1941, 1982, 2018: 56
7. 1950: 55
8. 1959, 1979: 54
9. 1971: 53
10. 1881, 1891, 1933, 1946, 1974, 1991: 52

Top 10 Warmest Means
1. 1950: 69
2. 1900, 1927: 68
3. 1882, 2003: 67
4. 1919, 1974: 66
5. 1933, 1979, 1982: 65
6. 1901, 1929, 1956: 63
7. 1971, 2013: 62
8. 1890, 1999: 61
9. 1909, 1921, 1935, 1941, 1946, 1991, 2018: 60
10. 1984, 2001: 59

Halloween High Temperatures by Occurrence since 1878
Below 40: 2
40-49: 27
50-59: 35
60-69: 59
70-79: 18
80 and Above: 2

Halloween Low Temperature by Occurrence since 1878
Below 20: 0
20-29: 12
30-39: 54
40-49: 51
50-59: 24
60 and Above: 2

And the precipitation extremes.

Top 10 Wettest
1. 2019: 1.51″
2. 1932: 1.44″
3. 2009: 1.21″
4. 2013: 0.98″
5. 1941: 0.97″
6. 1919: 0.91″
7. 2018: 0.63″
8. 1942: 0.51″
9. 1960: 0.45″
10. 1905, 1973: 0.43″

Halloween Precipitation by Amount Occurrence since 1878
None: 78
Trace: 11
0.01-0.24: 37
0.25-0.49: 9
0.50-0.99: 5
1.00 or More: 3

Snow has been very rare for Halloween, especially accumulating snow. 1993 saw the only time that an inch or more of snow fell.

Top 10 Snowiest
1. 1993: 1.0″
2. 1954: 0.2″
3. 1906, 1917, 1926, 1930, 2012, 2019: Trace