New York City experienced some noteworthy weather in 2017, especially the swings between record cold and record heat. However, the warmth won out in the end. The city’s average temperature for the year in Central Park was 56.3°F, which is 1.3°F above normal. That means 2017 tied 2001 for NYC’s tenth warmest year on record!
At the beginning of the year, the city experienced its sixth warmest winter ever recorded, including a record warm February. The temperature on February 24 hit 70°F – marking the first time the city has seen that type of heat in February in twenty years.
Spring was also unusually mild. It included the city’s second warmest April and second warmest Easter on record. It also produced an early heat wave in May.
The summer brought the city a number of oppressively hot and humid days, including thirteen days with temperatures in the 90s. The hottest day came on July 20 when the mercury soared to 94°F. When humidity was factored in, the heat index or real feel temperature was in the triple digits.
Autumn ranked as the city’s fourth warmest on record. It was highlighted by a record warm October.
The end of 2017, on the other hand, was marked by an extended arctic blast that produced the coldest readings of the year. On December 28, the high temperature only made it to 18°F and on December 31 the low was a bone-chilling 9°F – the second coldest New Year’s Eve in NYC history.
Precipitation for the year was somewhat erratic. Despite a few heavy rain events, including some that broke daily rainfall records such as the 3.02 inches that fell on May 5, the city was mostly dry. In fact, only four months of 2017 produced average to above average rainfall. Overall, NYC received 45.04 inches of rain in Central Park for the entire year. That is 4.9 inches below normal. This dearth of rain, according to the US Drought Monitor, caused abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions across the city for part of the year.
Snowfall, despite the warm winter, was abundant. During the year’s few arctic outbreaks, enough moisture was also in place to produce snow. For the calendar year as a whole, the city accumulated 34.7 inches of snow, which is 8.9 inches above average.
Records for the Central Park Climate Station date back to 1873.