Kansas City to break winter record: Most days without hitting 65 degrees in a century
With recent cold/snow, Kansas City has moved up into the ‘Extreme’ category in the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI) – indicates this season is within the top 20% worst winters on record. #KSwx #MOwx pic.twitter.com/5px8149jBR
— Jayson Prentice (@SeverePlains) February 27, 2019
Kansas City can’t get a break this winter — and we aren’t talking about snow or ice.
It’s been cold, nonstop.
It’s been 133 days since the high temperature reached 65 degrees at Kansas City International Airport, according to the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill. And with a high temperature of 62 degrees forecast Wednesday afternoon, Kansas City could break the record set in 1912 for most consecutive days with temperatures below 65 degrees.
That’s rare for Kansas City. Usually there is a warm day or two mixed in between cold stretches.
On average, not having a 65-degree day in winter happens every 5 years, according to the National Weather Service.
It’s not that the winter was extremely cold. It just never warmed up. And it was very wet.
The average temperature of 30.2 degrees this winter — December, January and February — was below normal in the Kansas City, it was only 1.1 degrees below normal.
The lack of a winter warm-up was the main reason for the below normal temperature, according to weather service. There were only two days when lows dipped below zero degrees.
While temperatures weren’t much colder this winter, it was wetter than usual.
Kansas City had 6.97 inches of precipitation for the three-month winter period. At 2.91 inches above normal, this was the 10th wettest winter on record. Each month had above-normal precipitation, only the 7th time that has happened in Kansas City’s history.
The months leading into the winter period were wetter than usual too. Between Oct. 1 and March 3, Kansas City has had 19.46 inches of total precipitation.
That’s the most in 131 years in Kansas City, according to the weather service.
Since March 3, Kansas City has had nearly another inch of precipitation. For the month, Kansas City is .29 of an inch above normal.