Last month concluded the driest meteorological autumn — September through November — in 102 years at an official site in Berks County at 3.42 inches.
Only fall in 1922 at 2.89 inches was drier in a 155-year database.
Measurements now are taken on automated equipment at Reading Regional Airport and 102 years ago they were taken by U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologists at a center city office.
The bulk of the quarter’s precipitation fell in November, 2.31 inches of the total. The county remains in a state Department of Environmental Protection-issued drought warning, but the weather conditions have appeared to normalize over the past couple weeks, if colder than normal.
The warning calls for a voluntary 10% to 15% reduction in water consumption. The DEP is taking a wait-and-see attitude on precipitation that could last through the winter before backing Berks down from the warning.
The only other county in a warning is Schuylkill. Much of the rest of the state is in a watch, with a 5% to 10% reduction sought.
The list of the 10 driest autumns on record in Berks is a picture of yesteryear, with 2024 a youthful invader on a list that had been undisturbed since 1941, 83 years ago.
The Reading Eagle of 1922 had brief weather stories regarding the “drouth,” including a Dec. 8 lament that a forecast of significant rain fizzled, and the total was only about a third of an inch that “will have no effect whatever on the depleted springs and streams.”
Precipitation normalized later in December with the annual precipitation total coming out at a not-too-bad 36.16 inches. The next year, 1923 was a little drier.
It wouldn’t be long before October 1924, which at 0.04 inch stood as the driest month on record until October 2024 bettered that mark by the slimmest of margins at 0.03.
However, that month in 1924 was a big-time outlier since the entire year measured 44.07 inches of precipitation, well above the normal for the time.
The driest years on record in Berks are 1930 and 1965, with both at 27 inches and change for precipitation totals. The latter was the culmination of a three-year dry period that cumulatively amounted to only nearly 100 inches of precipitation, about two-thirds of the current normal.
About temperatures
The November average temperature of 49 degrees tied 2015 for fifth warmest.
There were two 80-degree days early last month — 80 on the 1st and 83 on the 6th — only the second time in a 126-year temperature database that two 80-degree days occurred in the same November.
The other was 1950: 84 degrees on Nov. 1 and 82 on the 2nd. Beyond that there was only one other 80-degree day in any November and that was an 82 on Nov. 2, 1982.
The 83 degrees on Nov. 6, 2024, became the latest day in a year to reach at least 80.
Eventually, last month trended cooler, even more so than average for a month that normally trends cooler, said Jeffrey R. Stoudt, retired meteorologist and founder of the Berks Area Rainfall Networks, now in its 43rd year.
“Late-month chill spoiled higher placement (for the month) and it was still second warmest until the 27th,” Stoudt said.
He also made this point: “Timing in a leap year played a role. If the chilly final day were swapped with balmy Halloween, the average would have been 50.2 degrees, just under second warmest. And that slightly adjusted 30-day period would have coincided with the calendar month if 2024 had not been a leap year.”
The 10 cooling degree days during November was third to 11 in 1961 and 12 in 1950, Stoudt added. A low of 62 degrees with a high of 83 on the 6th generated eight of them, he said.
When the average temperature for the day is above 65 degrees there are cooling days, and when below there are heating days. Each degree counts as a heating or cooling day. So, a 70-degree average, for example, is five cooling days.
Stoudt said that last month there were one or two traces of snow many spots in Berks, but up to 2.5 inches on high elevations, which is typical for November.
Meanwhile, colder and wetter conditions have set in in Berks and the region, though still far from wet enough to leave the drought warning behind.
The AccuWeather forecast shows a bit of temperature moderation ahead, with a return to highs in the 50s from Sunday through Wednesday with rain possible Monday and Wednesday.
Berks County November weather
Temperature: 49 degrees
Normal: 44.6 degrees
Precipitation: 2.31 inches
Normal: 3.02 inches
Driest meteorological autumns (precipitation in inches)
2.89: 1922
3.42: 2024
3.90: 1879
3.97: 1914
4.01: 1900
4.26: 1941
4.37: 1936
4.54: 1908
4.72: 1895
4.98: 1933
Warmest meteorological autumns (degrees)
60.6: 1931
59.6: 1961
59.1: 1941
59: 1946
58.7: 2024
58.8: 1900
58.2: 1970
58: 1927
58: 1959
58: 1968
Warmest Novembers
51.2: 1931
50.4: 1948
49.5: 2020
49.3: 1963
49: 2024 and 2015
48.7: 1946
48.6: 1934
48.5: 1902, 1927, 2001 and 2009
Source: National Weather Service and U.S. Weather Bureau records
November precipitation amounts from the Berks Area Rainfall Networks:
• Shartlesville, 3.12
• Henningsville, 3.04
• New Morgan, 2.98
• Oley Furnace, 2.97
• Topton, 2.96
• Bechtelsville, 2.90
• Hamburg, 2.86
• Auburn, 2.84/0.3″ snow
• Mohrsville SW, 2.82
• Stausstown, 2.75
• Bernville, 2.74
• Mohrsville, 2.72
• Vinemont, 2.71/1″ snow
• Lobachsville, 2.70
• Dryville, 2.69
• Boyers Junction, 2.66
• Mohnton, 2.65
• Quaker Hill, 2.60
• Oley, 2.58
• Wernersville, 2.56
• Knauers, 2.54/0.5″ snow
• Reading E, 2.53
• Birdsboro, 2.50
• Morgantown, 2.48
• Amityville, 2.44
• Shillington, 2.42
• West Reading, 2.40
• Cornwall Terrace, 2.36
• Wyomissing, 2.34
• Cacoosing, 2.28
• Womelsdorf, 2.27
• Lincoln Park, 2.23
• Reiffton, 2.21
• Greenfields, 2.17
• Cumru Township building, 2.13
• Frystown, 2.13.
Source: Berkshire mont
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