Dec 04, 2019

November 2019 weather summary

Posted Dec 04, 2019 7:31 PM



For the second straight month the Junction City area had below normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. The area did have above normal snowfall however!


Geary County Extension Agent Chuck Otte said the average daily high during November was 51.3, 2.5 degrees below normal. The average overnight low was 29.5, 2.5 degrees below normal. The monthly mean temperature was then 40.4, 2.5 degrees below normal. Having all three of those averages with the same deviation is something that just doesn’t happen very often! The highest temperature in November was 74 on the 9th. The lowest temperature for the month was the chilly 5 degrees the morning of the 11th. There were three temperature records set during November. The low of 6 on the 10th and 5 on the 11th broke the old records of 15 on the 10th, set in 1960 and 8 for the 11th set in 1986. The high of 24 on the 11th broke the old record low high. The previous record was 31 degrees set in 2014. While it was colder than normal it wasn’t a record setting cold November. The coldest November on record was in 1985 with a monthly mean temperature of 35.2. The hottest November on record was in 1999 with a monthly mean temperature of 51.8.


November leads into our “dry” season, November through February. Normal November precipitation is 1.55 inches. After a very dry start of the month the last ten days turned wetter. Junction City received 0.50 inches of precipitation and Milford Lake recieved 0.65 inches. Year to date Junction City has received 37.07 inches and Milford Lake 38.89 inches. Normal for January through November is 32.13 inches. Normal November snowfall is 1.0 inches. A pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm dropped 2.2 inches of snow on the Junction City area. This brings the seasonal (October thru May) snowfall totals to 2.7 inches. Normal through November is 1.1 inches.


December brings us the official start of winter (December 21st, the shortest days of the year and markedly colder weather. Daytime highs start the month at 46 and by the end of the month are down to 38. Overnight lows drop from 25 on the 1st to 18 on New Year’s Eve. Average precipitation is only 1.02 inches. While average snowfall for December is 3.7 inches, our long term odds of having a white Christmas are actually rather slim. While our fewest hours of sunlight usually fall on the winter solstice, we are already at the earliest sunset time of the year for Junction City. The sun is currently setting at 5:04 p.m but will start setting later already on December 12th. While the hours of daylight start increasing by December 23rd, sunrise doesn’t start getting earlier until January 11th.