Weather as Recorded at the UMass Cranberry Station:
East Wareham
Prepared by Peter Jeranyama
February continued the warm trend for this winter, with above normal precipitation. The temperatures averaged 37.4 degrees, 6.4 degrees above normal. The maximum temperature was 56 degrees on the 24th and a minimum temperature of 9 degrees was recorded on the 3rd. Daytime high temperatures averaged 45.9 degrees, 6.3 degrees above the norm. Evening temperatures averaged 29.2 degrees, 6.2 degrees above the norm. Seventeen nights had low temperatures of below 32 degrees; 1 night with single digits. While this month was not near record warm, it was well above average and 1.6 degrees warmer than February 2017.
Sunshine averaged 42% of the possible sunshine hours. 5 days had 80% or better sunshine (1 with 100%) while 8 days had no sunshine. The sunshine hours are recorded at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, MA. Precipitation totaled 6.43 inches, 2.69 inches above the norm. We had measurable precipitation on 14 days, but 2 of those days had less than 0.10 inches. The largest 24-hour rainfall was 1.48 inches on the 5th. There was 1 day with measurable snowfall totaling 1.0 inch, 8.5 inches below normal for the month. Year-to-date snowfall recorded in East Wareham is now 12.9 inches, 19.2 inches less than this time in 2017; the 2017-2018 season to date is 18.5 inches, 9.9 inches below the seasonal average. Snowfall records go back to 1952 in East Wareham.
Official Winter Season
The official winter in East Wareham (Dec. 2017 - Feb. 2018) was warmer than normal, wet, and had below average in snowfall. Sunshine (at Blue Hills) for the winter was 42% of possible, 5 points below the norm. The season's temperatures averaged 34.19 degrees, 2.7 degrees above normal and 1.1 degrees colder than 2016-2017. The low mark was 2.2 degrees below zero on Jan. 7th and the maximum was 58.1 degrees on Jan. 13th. Sunshine hours for Dec-Feb were below the average. Precipitation totaled 15.82 inches, 3.61 inches above average. Snowfall totaled 18.5 inches, 8.86 inches below normal. February was the warmest of the three winter months and January had the highest rainfall, snowfall and sunshine for the winter season.
