This past winter has been the second warmest on record. Meteorological winter is a three month period that runs from Dec 1st to the end of February. It is the coldest three month period of the year in the northern hemisphere. Astronomical winter is what we all refer to when we talk about the winter season and is based on when the sun reaches the most southern point on the globe, the Tropic of Capricorn, on Sunday March 20th. Now that the meteorological spring has begun (March 1st), meteorologists have started to put together this winter's records for Central Park. The warmest winter on record was in 2001-2002 with an average of 41.5 degrees. Over the 2015-2016 winter, the average temperture was 41 degrees, making it the second warmest winter on record. On December 24th, we had a record high of 72 degrees and on February 14th, we had a record cold of -1 degrees.
The average snowfall in Central Park is 21 inches. Last year it snowed 50.3 inches, and this year 31.2 inches, most of which arrived in a 1-day period.