by Russell Russ

Norfolk’s weather for 2021 was interesting. Isn’t the weather always interesting? What rightly first comes to mind when remembering 2021’s weather is how wet it was in summer and fall. What also might come to mind is the relative lack of snowfall. Digging deeper, Norfolk residents might recall how lousy the weather was for some of the holidays. Memorial Day and Independence Day were cool and wet and not very summer-like. Labor Day was not that nice either, but at least it was not as gloomy as the others. Thanks to an overnight light coating of snow, Norfolk did just barely squeak out a white Christmas, but the snow was gone soon after. To finish out the year, the days between Christmas and New Year’s saw several dreary days with fog, drizzle, rain and freezing rain.   

Temperatures were above normal throughout most of 2021. Ten of 12 months came in as warmer than normal. Three months (August, October and December) were ranked in the top 10 for warmth. There were eight days during the year that set new record daily high temperatures and one day that set a new record daily low. The coldest day of the year was Jan. 29 with a low temperature of minus 2 degrees. That was the only day of 2021 with a below-zero temperature. The warmest day of the year was June 29 with a high of 91 degrees. Norfolk hit 90 degrees or above just twice: it was 91 degrees on June 29 and 90 on June 30. This is about average for Norfolk. It was quite cloudy and rainy for a good part of July through October, likely keeping temperatures lower than they might have been had there been a little more sunshine. With an average yearly mean temperature of 47.3 degrees, 2021 ended up being Norfolk’s eighth warmest of the last 90 years. The warmest was 2012 with 48.5 degrees, and the coolest was 1940 with 41.9 degrees.

Snowfall for the year was quite a bit below normal. The calendar year snowfall total of 59.1 inches ranked 2021 as Norfolk’s 10th least snowy year of the last 90 years. Seven of 2021’s eight “snow season months” were below normal for snowfall. Norfolk’s snowiest year was in 1956 with 175.1 inches and the least snowy was 1998 with just 33.0 inches. The October 2020 to May 2021 winter season snowfall total was 77.6 inches. This was below normal, but not high ranking. Had it not been for February’s 35.0 inches, both the yearly and winter season snowfall totals would likely have been in the top three for least snowy. March, with just 0.1 inch of snowfall, was the least snowy March on record.   

The yearly total precipitation amount of 60.00 inches was 7.47 inches above normal, ranking it as the 16th wettest of the last 90 years. Seven months were above normal and five were below normal, but the months that were above were considerably above. The year started out dry; by the end of April the precipitation deficit was 5.63 inches. The deficit was 5.02 inches after June. Then came the rains. July, with 13.05 inches, was Norfolk’s wettest July on record. It was also the eighth wettest of any month in the last 90 years. August through October were also above normal. At the close of October, the year’s surplus peaked at 11.24 inches. Despite flirting with top 10 status for wettest year, November and December brought below-normal precipitation. Norfolk’s wettest year was 2011 with 77.28 inches, and the driest was 1965 with 33.89 inches. 

Over the next month, look for a complete summary of Norfolk’s 2021 weather and updated monthly and yearly weather records on Great Mountain Forest’s newly revamped website. Go to greatmountainforest.org and look for the weather section. Included are monthly weather summaries dating back to 2006. Weather observations and record keeping are performed by Russell Russ for the National Weather Service and Great Mountain Forest at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2SW.