A Fairly Typical November for Norfolk

By Russell Russ

This is a summary of November’s weather as recorded at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2 SW, by the Great Mountain Forest Corporation.
The month’s high temperature of 58 degrees was observed on November 22. The low temperature of 14 degrees was observed on November 24. The average temperature this month was 36.2 degrees which was just 0.5 degree below normal.

The total precipitation recorded for the month was 3.75 inches. This was 1.08 inches below normal. There were a few rumbles of thunder at the station on the morning of November 15. The total precipitation for 2007 through November is 41.95 inches. Comparing this to the last 75 years we are now 5.96 inches below an average year. It has been a dry year, but not really all that record setting. At the current rate it could be among our top ten for least amount of yearly precipitation.

The month of November on average receives 8.2 inches of snow. This year we saw only 1.5 inches. The first real, measurable snowfall of this winter season came on the morning of November 20. Our snowfall total for the 2007 calendar year is nearing record levels for low snowfall totals. From January through November we have recorded just 44 inches of snow. At this point we are 34.6 inches below normal. If this continues, 2007 will easily be among the top five least snowy years that Norfolk has seen in the last 75.

The month started out just as October ended, on a warm note. Many trees were still loaded with leaves. Many people’s leaf raking plans had to be put off for about two weeks until finally they started to fall. There were a number of big temperature swings during the month. On November 15 between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. the temperature dropped 13 degrees and by 3 p.m. it had dropped a total of 20 degrees. Another big temperature drop occurred between November 22 and 24 where we recorded our monthly high and low temperatures in a time span of just 36 hours. Thanksgiving was rain and snow free and quite warm, which made for good travel weather at one of the busiest travel times of the year.