Paoer 11 



ENTIRE COAST COLDER THAN IN PREVIOUS 40 YEARS 



Anomalies of monthly mean air temperatures for July 1976 to 

 January 1977 appear in Figure 11.1 for 12 coastal stations. The 

 anomalies are based on long-tem monthly means for the 40-yr 

 periods 1936-75. For comoarison with these anomalies^ 

 Figure 11.1 aLso includes the extremes and standard deviations of 

 the monthly means for the 40-yr period. 



The anomaly data in Figure 11.1 show colder than average 

 temperatures every month from October to January along the entire 

 coast except in southern Florida. Furthermore^ the record cold 

 anomalies of the past 40 years are equalled or exceeded in one or 

 more months at every station except Key West. At both Savannah 

 and Jacksonville the negative anomalies equalled or exceeded the 

 'fO-yr recora in three of the four months--all but December. 

 Record breaking anomalies are notable at Atlantic City in 

 January^ Jacksonville in November/^ and Galveston in October. In 

 December/ the. negative anomalies were relatively moderate along 

 the entire coast. 



Some apparent regional patterns are: 



-- North of Cape Hatteras/ negative anomalies in all months 

 from July to January. 



- Hatteras to Jacksonville/^ negative anomalies in 

 months from August to January. 



all 



-- Gulf of Mexico/ negative anomalies in all months from 

 October to January. 



To permit interyear comparisons of entire cold seasons/ averages 

 of the monthly mean air temperature anomalies have been 

 calculated for. the five months/ September-January/ at six of the 

 stations: Portland/ Atlantic City/ Savannah/ Key West/ 

 Tallahassee/ and Galveston. These averages appear in Table 11.1 

 for the 1975-77 fall-winter period. Also listed in Table 11.1 

 are comparable values for each station for the four coldest 

 September-January periods of the previous 40 years. 



The data in Table 11.1 clearly show: 1) that record cold 

 weather conditions prevailed in the fall and winter of 1976-77 

 alono the entire coast/ with the exception of southern Florida/ 

 and 2) that unusually cold conditions in earlier years were 

 more Loc a li zed--not extending along the entire coast. 



Longer records from a few stations (Providence/ 1905-1977; 

 Hatteras/ 1875-1977; Jacksonville/ 1S71-1977; and Galveston/ 

 1905-1977) indicate that the 1976-77 cold season was unrivaled 

 during the years of record/ except at Providence in 1917-18. 



168 



