Weather '96: It Was A Very Bad Year
For those who have been lamenting the weather of the past year, it's now official: 1996 was the wettest and snowiest on record for the East End - with 65.21 inches of total precipitation and 84 inches of snow.
The old precipitation record in 1983, 63.85 inches, was broken by nearly an inch and a half. Indeed, there was 50 percent more than the average annual precipitation hereabouts, 45.97 inches. (Snowfall is translated into inches of precipitation by melting the snow.)
The unusually heavy snowfall broke a much older record, according to statistics compiled by Richard Hendrickson, a U.S. Cooperative Weather Observer in Bridgehampton. The 84-inch total was half an inch more than the previous record, set in 1905.
Wettest Months
The 16 snowstorms between January and March included seven in January that dumped 32.7 inches, seven in February amounting to 17 inches, and two in March totaling 10.5 inches. Snow continued into April, when 10 inches fell.
The wettest months were January, April, July, August, September, October, and especially December with 8.44 inches. That was not a record, however; 9.9 inches fell in December of 1936. Almost as wet was April, with 8.23 inches of rain.
After a severe winter, the spring and summer were unusually cool and rainy. May stayed cool, cloudy, and wet. Then on May 20, from out of the blue, the temperature soared to 92 degrees - the hottest day of the summer, although summer officially was still a month away. The following day there was an 88-degree high.
Summer At Last
June was memorable for its cool temperatures and nine days of fog in the first 13 days. July continued cool and wet. There was a near miss from Hurricane Bertha, plus a whole lot of fog, the kind usually associated with June.
August was much cooler than usual, with fog. Summer came at last in September. The first 10 days were hot, 80 degrees or higher. Then it got wet again, with more than seven inches of rain. However, the East End was spared any hurricanes.
Over all, it was "one of the coolest and wettest summers ever recorded," according to Mr. Hendrickson.
October featured three days with winds in excess of 50 miles per hour. The month was wet with temperatures mostly in the 60s.
Mild December
During November night temperatures dropped into the 20s and 30s. Precipitation was light, only half the average amount for the month. The most serious weather occurred during the late afternoon and evening of the 28th when an eighth-inch of snow caused icy roads and a number of fender benders on Thanksgiving Day.
December remained mild, mainly in the 40s, and it rained. The warmest temperature was 54 on the 17th. The coldest December day was New Year's Eve with a high of 18.