IRON MOUNTAIN - Winter seems well under way, but the season doesn't officially arrive until 11:47 a.m. Monday.
The National Weather Service, in updating its long-range forecast, continues to predict temperatures averaging above normal for the next three months.
Water temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean will likely remain above normal this winter, explained Kevin Crupi, weather service meteorologist at Marquette. This El Nino phenomenon typically causes temperatures to rise across the north-central United States, particularly during the cold season, he said.
Precipitation trends are expected to remain normal through March.
Temperatures in November at Iron Mountain-Kingsford averaged 38.5 degrees, which was 6.9 degrees above normal. That tied 1999 as the second-warmest November on record. The warmest November was in 2001, when temperatures averaged 41.1 degrees.
"A prevailing west to east flow of Pacific air that developed over North America after the first week of November prevented Arctic air masses from invading the Great Lakes," Crupi said. As a result, temperatures across the Upper Peninsula ended up between 6 and 9 degrees above normal.
At Iron Mountain-Kingsford, the highest temperature was 67 degrees on Nov. 7, setting a new record for that date. The former mark was 65 degrees in 1964.
The lowest temperature was 18 degrees on Nov. 17 and again on Nov. 18.
Despite some heavy snow in December, the U.S. Drought Monitor is reporting moderate drought in southern Iron County as well as most of Florence County, Wis. Conditions are listed as abnormally dry in Dickinson, Menominee and northern Iron counties in Michigan and Marinette County in Wisconsin.
Water-equivalent precipitation in November at Iron Mountain-Kingsford totaled a mere 0.58 inches, which was 1.46 inches below normal. It was the eighth-driest November on record.
Snowfall measured 1.5 inches for the month, which was 4.8 inches below normal and the fifth-lowest on record. The least-snowiest November was in 2008, when 0.6 inches fell.
Statistics for the Iron Mountain-Kingsford Wastewater Treatment Plant cooperative observer site are based on records that began in March 1931. Normals used are for the period 1971 through 2000.
Some other temperature and precipitation observations across the U.P. in November:
- Ironwood, average temperature 37.6, precipitation 1.17 inches, snowfall 2.9 inches.
- Baraga, average temperature 38.4, precipitation 0.71 inches, snowfall 1.4 inches.
- Marquette, average temperature 41.8, precipitation 1.39 inches, snowfall 0.7 inches.
- Munising, average temperature 39.6, precipitation 1.52 inches, snowfall trace.
- Newberry, average temperature 40, precipitation 1.35 inches, snowfall 0.1 inches.
- Iron River, average temperature 36.2, precipitation 0.33 inches, snowfall 1.0 inches.
- Garden Corners, average temperature 38.8, precipitation 0.71 inches, snowfall trace.
- Manistique, average temperature 40.1, precipitation 0.84 inches, snowfall trace.
Jim Anderson's e-mail address is janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.