FORGET COLD WAVE: 1990 RECORDED AS WET, WARM

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- As area residents recover from the late December cold wave, 1990 will go into the record book as a warm and wet year in Cape Girardeau.

And the National Weather Service says more wet weather, with near to slightly above seasonable temperatures, is in store for Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois during the 90-day period, January-March.

The 30-day outlook for January calls for seasonable temperatures and above normal precipitation for the bi-state area. That could mean more snow this month.

According to statistics provided by Dr. Al Robertson of the Southeast Missouri State University Earth Science Department, 1990 was the sixth warmest in 42 years, and the eleventh wettest in 71 years in Cape Girardeau.

Robertson said the annual average temperature for 1990 was 59.3 degrees, up two degrees from the annual long-term average of 57.3 degrees.

"That's a significant increase when you consider it is spread over a 364-day period," said Robertson.

According to weather records that date back to the 1940s, the warmest year in Cape Girardeau was 1946, when the annual average was 60.9 degrees.

However, Missourian records suggest that 1934 may also have been a very warm year in Cape Girardeau County. According to those records, the temperature on July 24, 1934 was 112 degrees, "a record for Cape County; Sixteen days of 100-plus temperatures."

Another notation says that on July 22, 1901, the temperature reached 110 degrees, marking 15 days of 100-degree-plus temperatures.

Robertson said the monthly temperature average for eight of the 12 months in 1990 was above the long-term average.

The most significant departure from the norm occurred in January and February. He said the January average was 43 degrees, 10.7 degrees above the long-term average of 32.3 degrees.

February wasn't quite as warm, 44 degrees, but was still more than 6 degrees above the long-term average of 37.4 degrees.

Despite the intense heat of July, the average monthly temperature, 79.5, was only 0.2 of a degree above the long-term average, 79.3 degrees.

August was about a degree cooler than normal, but the heat returned in September with the average temperature 2.2 degrees above the long-term average, 70.4 degrees.

October turned out to be a very cool month, with the average 3 degrees below the long term, 59.7 degrees.

The November temperature average, 53.3 degrees, was 5.6 degrees above the long-term average, and was the warmest November in 42 years in Cape Girardeau.

Despite a late-month cold wave, December's average was still 0.8 of a degree above the long-term average of 37.1 degrees, thanks to a very warm period during the first 20 days of the month.

The high temperature for the year was 102 degrees, on July 9. The low for the year, on Dec. 24, was 8 degrees. Unlike 1989, there were no sub-zero temperature readings in Cape Girardeau during 1990.

Heavy amounts of precipitation fell in January, 5.71 inches; February, 7.83 inches; May, 8.83 inches, October, 5.21 inches; and December, 9.16 inches. That helped push the annual precipitation total at the airport to 55.03 inches, 10 inches above the long-term annual average of 45.03 inches.

Robertson said the wettest year in the past 71 years in Cape Girardeau was in 1945, when 73.58 inches of rain was recorded.

Long forgotten with the arrival of the blast of arctic air in late December was the warm mild weather of early and mid-December. It was also the third wettest December here in 83 years.

Robertson said before the cold air arrived on Dec. 22, the monthly temperature average was running about 6.5 degrees above normal.

"Take a look at the 10-day averages," said Robertson. "It tells the whole story."

Between Dec. 1-10, the average was 42.8 degrees, up 3 degrees from the long-term average of 39.8 degrees.

During the period Dec. 11-20, the average soared to 45.8 degrees, 10 degrees above normal.

Then the cold air arrived, and during the final 10 days of the month, the average was 26.2 degrees, down 9 degrees from the long-term average.

Robertson said the high for the month was an unseasonable 66 degrees on Dec. 10. "There were six days when the high was in the 60s and 12 days when it was in the 50s," he said, noting the average daily temperature in December ranges from the low 50s at the first of the month to the mid-40s by the end of the month.

Heavy rains plus freezing rain, sleet and snow late in the month pushed the monthly precipitation total to 9.16 inches, 5.47 inches above the long-term average of 3.69 inches.

"That made it the second wettest December in 83 years," said Robertson. "The wettest December ever in Cape was in 1982, with 12.32 inches."

Heaviest rainfall came on Dec. 21, with 3.56 inches, which set a precipitation record for that date. Nearly 6 inches of frozen precipitation, including freezing rain, sleet and snow, fell in December.

"Everybody talks about the polar jet stream influencing the weather, but this time it was the sub-tropical jet stream that really played a large part in our local weather," said Robertson. "That's because it was flowing over Texas, Arkansas and the Bootheel of Missouri during the latter half of the month.

"The sub-tropical jet stream brought in large amounts of moist air over our area from the Pacific Ocean. At first, it was rain, but as the polar jet began to slide southward, the warm moist air was pushed up over the shallow layer of very cold air at the surface which resulted in the freezing rain, sleet and snow."

The weather service says January temperatures should be near seasonal levels. Last year, the high for the month was 66 degrees, on Jan. 15. The low was 17 degrees, on Jan. 13. Of the 5.71 inches of precipitation that fell in January 1990, 3.06 inches fell on Jan. 19.

"It's a good thing it was all rain," Robertson said. "If it had been in the form of snow, we would have gotten over 30 inches of the stuff."