ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Not to be more boring then I already tend to be, but let’s look at a lot of numbers.

I know, this is not a good strategy to entice you to continue to keep reading, but, I think you find the end result very interesting.

This is a year in review for 2024. Specifically, this is entire temperature record for Rochester during this past year. But how do you digest all of this data in a meaningful way? In my view, we need to first analyze the temperature on a month by month basis with a comparison to the seasonal average temperature for each month. We know this past winter season was almost nonexistent.

Temperatures for February and March were running some six and seven degrees above normal. Statistical this was “off the chart” for warmth during the winter season. This warm weather trend continued through spring and early summer. And even the remainder of 2024 (July through December) shows slightly less heat, but still gives similar results.  Each and every month from January through December 2024 had above average temperatures.

Secondly, if you are still with me and we do the math, all of this adds up to 52.7 degrees for the entire year.  Not a big deal at first glance, but the significance of this number is the comparison to the temperature of past years.  In 98 years of temperature records, it was the warmest year in recorded history for Rochester. Statistically an extraordinary result.  And a closer inspection reveals that five out of six of those warmest years happened in just the last 18 years!

We have no idea how this upcoming year will end-up, but no one can deny there is certain a trend for Rochester.