Source: Corey Davis, NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 1/4/22

Holiday heat headlined our historically warm December, and despite late-month rainfall, it was a dry month overall. We also check in on how La Niña has shaped our weather so far this winter.

Year-End Temperatures Set Records
A winter wonderland, it wasn’t. Cool temperatures were scarce last month, yielding one of our warmest Decembers on record. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports a preliminary statewide average temperature of 49.7°F, which was our 4th-warmest December since 1895.

Most sites across the state recorded one of their top five warmest Decembers on record. Greensboro, Wilmington, and Hatteras each had their 2nd-warmest December dating back more than 100 years, trailing only the soaking and steamy December in 2015.
Our average maximum temperatures were downright balmy. In Charlotte, the average high of 64.7°F was nearly 10 degrees above normal, or more typical of December in Savannah, GA. Mountain sites in Marshall and Cullowhee each recorded their warmest December based on maximum temperatures dating back more than a century.

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