Annual Climate Summary 2011

2011 by the Numbers (Click Title Above for full article with infographs!!)


-7°F: the lowest temperature reported in North Carolina during the year, on January 9 at Mount Mitchell
0.5 inches: the amount of snow measured at Beech Mountain on October 1, making it the earliest snowfall on record in North Carolina
9: the number of days at or above 100 degrees in Raleigh, the most since 1999 (12 days) and the second-most on record
30: the number of reported tornadoes on April 16, which beat the old single-day record of 20 (April 7, 1998)
62.6°F: the average temperature in Raleigh during 2011, making it the third-warmest year on record
86 mph: the maximum sustained winds of Hurricane Irene when it made landfall near Cape Lookout on August 27. The storm was a category one at landfall but had been at category three strength just 36 hours before.
45,294: the number of acres burned in the Pains Bay wildfire. The Dare County blaze started with a lightning strike on May 5 and was 100% contained by June 27.
$5.2 million: the amount of damage to Ben Martin Elementary School in Fayetteville from an EF3 tornado during the April 16 outbreak