TOLEDO, Ohio — How will you remember 2022? In a year of weather extremes, 2022 brought a vast array of weather patterns, from record heat to extreme cold, and major snowstorms to flooding rain.
Now that the New Year is here, we can look back on the weather from last year. In this week's edition of Climate Friday, I'll look back on 2022 and analyze the impact of climate change on our erratic weather.
2022 started off with bitter cold, and January dosed out our coldest temperature of the year. On Jan. 29, the thermometer plunged to -5. Despite the bitter chill, this temperature fell shy of the record of -10 from 1884.
As a whole, January featured frigid temperatures, and the average monthly temperature barely exceeded 20 degrees. January 2022 was a whopping 5.5 degrees colder than average.
In addition to the extreme cold, January delivered dry conditions to the region. Toledo picked up only 0.64 inches of precipitation all month, making it the driest of 2022. Overall, the year started off exceptionally cold and dry.
First came the cold, then the snow. You may recall the historic February snowstorm that dumped over a foot of accumulation on the region.
February started off with the biggest snowstorm of the year, dumping 12.7 inches on Toledo. 4.3 fell on February 2, and the remaining 8.4 accumulated the following day. Though this storm started off with rain and temperatures above freezing, it ended up as one of the most memorable in Toledo history.
After this blockbuster storm, temperatures briefly plunged to the single-digits before quickly warming back up above the freezing mark. The snow melted away within several weeks as above-average temperatures returned.
After a harsh winter and big thaw, warmer weather quickly returned. The summer season started off with triple-digit heat, and the 100-degree temperature on June 21 was the hottest day of the entire year. June brought a grand total of eight days over 90 degrees, and the summer featured 23.
The hottest month of the summer season was July, with an average temperature of 76. The entire summer featured a scorching average high temperature of 86.
Climate change is making summertime heat more frequent and intense, and the new normal is much hotter than the summer season felt decades ago. The summer season has warmed up by 2 degrees in the last decade alone, warming by much more in the past century.
With rapidly rising temperatures, 90-degree days are growing far more frequent and triple-digit temperatures will become more commonplace.
As a whole, 2022 brought warmer than average temperatures with eight of the 12 months above normal. The year still brought cold snaps and record lows, but they were less common that the heat waves and record highs.
Warm weather is growing more common due to climate change, and will grow more extreme and frequent in the future. Though day-to-day fluctuations in the weather are due to shifts in the jet stream, the overall warming pattern and global shifts in weather are due to climate change.
Now that 2022 is in the rearview mirror, stay tuned to the WTOL 11 weather team for the latest on whatever this year has in store.
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