It wasn't as cold as we thought!

NOAA finally got their website fixed up, and once again it becomes apparent that our memories are very selective. 5202 HDD for this region for the season to end of March. Ranked only 18th coldest of the last 100 years. The few dozen HDDs left in April/May are not likely to change that much.

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us

A good year for me to insulate my basement walls, and a good year to have truly well seasoned oak in stock, but overall, not as cold as we thought. We quickly forget how mild it was in December and early January, I was running in shorts and a t-shirt to work off my new-years hangover.

Well, the good news is that despite the outrageous cost of propane, my BTU/HDD/SQFT for propane was below 4.0 for the second year in a row, although if I add in the cord of firewood, it's 5.8. That's still a 20-30% reduction in propane use since moving in ten years ago. It's nice to see the benefits from all my insulation, window replacement and air-sealing work, and there's still more to be done.

TE

ihookem said:

I burned about 10% more wood this winter than the year before, but it was a few degrees colder in the house,, but this year we hd hydronic heat, and that makes it seem warmer than it is. It was a lot colder here this winter than the winter before.

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Looking at the NOAA website, Wisconsin had the second-coldest Winter since 1914, and the forth coldest since records began, so for you it really was exceptionally cold. For us, there were a several weeks with almost every day reaching record lows, but the heating season as a whole was tempered by a mild early winter, and a relatively mid spring. "Top 20%" may sound cold, but statistically every five years should be in the "top 20%", your winter was a once in fifty years event (hopefully).

TE

velvetfoot said:

Are degree days missing on that link?
Never mind, I read the fine print: Please note, Degree Days are not available for Agricultural Belts, NWS Regions and Cities; Palmer Indices are not available for NWS Regions and Cities.

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You can get degree-days for your "climate division" within a state, but not for individual cities. Climate divisions are much smaller than NWS regions. Within a CD, the HDD is calculated based on multiple weather stations, but weighted for population density.

To get HDD available on the first box, you must have a CD selected, not a city.


TE

woodgeek said:

Meh. Philly got a typical Boston winter this year, in terms of temp and snowfall, maybe a little over 5000 HDD and 70" of snow.

2003 was colder, 2007 had more snow. Nice combination.

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Yes, our "extreme" winter was just an average for Boston, we're only about 100HDD behind them this year.

Where did you get that data? Is it specifically for Philly, I'd be curious to see how that differs from the NOAA CD data. I know the NOAA page I use isn't specifically for Philly, but taking the season as a whole, I don't see any combination of heating season that shows 2002/2003 to be anything close to being a cold winter, certainly not as cold as the winter we just had.

Your point about 2007 is also a good example of selective memory. It might be remembered as being a "cold" winter due to all the snow, however it was in fact a relatively mild winter, which is often that case for snowy winters; the warmer air holds more moisture leading to more snow.

TE

I'd only bother to name them if I decide to sleep in the basement. Looking at all the ice damage the next day, I wished I had slept in the basement that night too, although we survived with almost negligible tree damage compared to almost everyone else nearby.

TE