SYRACUSE -- At 1:36 this afternoon, the thermometer at Syracuse Hancock Airport hit 70 degrees setting a new record high for this date. The old record was a measly 68 degrees which had been set in 1968.
As a matter of fact, the last time Syracuse reached 70 degrees in December was back on December 6th 2001, 11 years ago when it hit 72 degrees.
Of more historic proportions, consider this. Today was only the fourth time in Syracuse weather history, dating back to 1902 (110 years) that Syracuse has reached 70 degrees in the month of December! Syracuse is not the only location in upstate to see a new record high temperature today. Watertown up north broke their old record of 63 degrees which was set in 1982, and as of this writing had reached 68 degrees.
When talking about a day like today with these record temperatures, we can put this in even more perspective by remembering what the normal readings are for this time of year for Syracuse, and that would be an average daytime high of only 40 degrees! We sure did a whole lot better than that today!
Now the question becomes, what lies ahead? The answer is more typical, seasonably cold weather for the next week or so with daytime highs averaging in the 40s. Those temperatures may be colder, but certainly a far cry from any REAL cold outbreak. I still believe we will see a somewhat colder, more wintry pattern change mid month, but just how cold or how prolonged, it’s just too soon to tell.
