By SALINA POST
Following on the heels of a warmer and more dry November, Salina weather in December was much the same.
READ: November 2021 warmer, quite dry in Salina
The average monthly temperature of 40.8 degrees was 7.9 degrees warmer than normal, according to the National Weather Service. It was the warmest December since records began in 1900.
The warmest daily temperature of 76 degrees on Dec. 15 was also the second warmest December temperature on record. The all-time high was 81 degrees on Dec. 6, 1939. The coldest daily temperature was 10 degrees on Dec. 18. The all-time low was -24 degrees on Dec. 22, 1989, the weather service noted.
As for precipitation, only 0.08 of an inch was measured, which was 1.04 inches drier than normal. That paltry precipitation tied for the 10th driest December on record. The driest December for Salina was 1976, when no measurable precipitation fell, according to the weather service. The all-time wettest December was in 1913, when 3.92 inches of precipitation fell.
And then, there was the wind. As a devastating wind storm blew across the state on Dec. 15, Salina recorded both its highest sustained wind speed (61 mph) and its highest gust (88 mph), according to the weather service.