Temperatures in December in Trenton averaged above normal by four and one-half degrees during daytime highs and above normal by two-point-three degrees during lows. Highs averaged nearly 43 degrees while lows averaged 25.4 degrees.
There was a high of 66 degrees on December 10th, which was a record for that date in Trenton. The 66-degree reading was the warmest temperature of the month. It was one of two dates in December in which highs reached the 60s. It was 64 degrees on December 9th. The coldest temperature for the month of December in Trenton was four degrees on Christmas morning.
Rain and melted precipitation totaled 1.79 inches, which was five-hundredths of an inch above normal for the month. Nearly all of the moisture came in the 24 hour period ending at 7 o’clock Wednesday morning when 1.65 of freezing rain and melted snow and sleet were recorded. That set a new moisture record for December 30th in Trenton.
Trenton officially had one and one-half inches of snow and sleet that date and for the month. The measurement was taken at the water plant in west Trenton where official temperature readings and precipitation amounts are recorded. KTTN measured three inches of snow and sleet in downtown Trenton.
Moisture, for the year in Trenton, totaled 37.79 inches, which was 1.48 inches below normal for the year.
The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, entering December, had reported above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation were favored in our area. The temperature prediction was correct and, it looked like the precipitation outlook also would be correct until the moisture record of 1.65 inches of freezing rain, sleet, and snow in the 24 hour period ending Wednesday morning. That moisture resulted in December being mere five-hundredths of an inch wetter than average.
The outlook for January 2021, according to the Climate Prediction Center, is calling for above-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation to be favored in our area.
