As we flipped the calendar to read 2021, it was time to look back and summarize the year that was (2020 in this case). If I were to use adjectives to summarize 2020 they would be – warm, dry, snowy, foggy, and windy. To figure out why those words were chosen, let’s look back at some of the stats that made up 2020:

 

Our average temperature for 2020 was 29.6°F (-1.3°C) which is 2.3°F above the 1981-2010 30-year normal for our station. This would make the annual average temperatures of 2020 the fourth highest in our dataset, which started in 1932. Our warmest temperature recorded in 2020 was 68°F (20°C) which occurred on June 18th and on July 9th. Our coldest temperature recorded in 2020 was 18°F below (-18°F/-27.8°C) which occurred on January 17th.

 

In terms of precipitation from January to December of 2020, the summit of Mt Washington received 81.21 inches which was 15.66 inches below the 1981-2010 30-year normal for our location. From January to December of 2020, the summit of Mt Washington received 281.6 inches of snow which was 0.4 inches above the 1981-2010 30-year normal for our location.

 

In terms of winds, for 2020 our average was 37.0 mph which was 2.0 mph above 1981-2010 30-year normal for our location. Our highest gust recorded for 2020 was 147 mph which occurred on August 4th. This August gust set a new August peak gust record surpassing the previous August record of 142 mph set on August 31, 1954. From January to December, we had 171 days which had gusts of 73 mph or greater and of those days, 49 days had gusts that were 100 mph or greater.

 

As for our weather during 2020, we averaged 34% of the possible sunshine. The summit had 16 days that were noted as clear or mostly clear, there were 72 partly sunny days, with the remaining 278 days were filed under mostly cloudy, cloudy, or obscured (fog) (2020 had 366 days as it was a leap year). We had 320 days with at least some fog recorded during a 24-hour period. We had 136 days with rain and 141 days with snow.

 

If interested in additional weather data, please check out our F-6 page (updated nightly), our Normals, Means, and Extremes page, our Current Conditions Page, our 48-Hour Higher Summits Forecast, and our Annual Temperature Graph. If you need data for research purposes, you can submit a request HERE. If interested in supporting our the work we do at our weather station, please consider donating or becoming a member.