...MEMPHIS CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR 1996... FOR THE YEAR 1996 AT MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...TEMPERATURES AVERAGED BELOW NORMAL WHILE PRECIPITATION TOTALED WELL ABOVE NORMAL...THE SECOND GREATEST ANNUAL PRECIPITATION TOTAL FOR MEMPHIS. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR 1996 WAS 61.3 DEGREES WHICH IS BELOW THE NORMAL OF 62.3 DEGREES. THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS 70.6 DEGREES (1.5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL) WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE WAS 52.0 DEGREES (0.4 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL). THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE BY MONTH: MONTH AVG TEMP. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL JANUARY 39.2 -0.5 FEBRUARY 45.0 +0.8 MARCH 48.0 -5.1 APRIL 59.7 -3.2 MAY 74.2 +3.0 JUNE 78.6 -0.5 JULY 80.5 -2.1 AUGUST 79.7 -1.3 SEPTEMBER 72.4 -1.8 OCTOBER 63.0 -0.1 NOVEMBER 49.0 -3.5 DECEMBER 46.8 +3.1 ................................................................ YEAR 61.3 -1.0 THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE RECORDED IN 1996 WAS 97 DEGREES ON JULY 22ND. THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE RECORDED IN 1996 WAS 4 DEGREES ON FEBRUARY 3RD AND 4TH. THE LAST SPRING FREEZE OCCURRED ON MARCH 26TH WHILE THE FIRST AUTUMN FREEZE OCCURRED ON NOVEMBER 3RD. THIS MADE THE GROWING SEASON 221 DAYS LONG WHICH IS BELOW THE LONG TERM NORMAL OF 230 DAYS. DURING THE YEAR...THERE WERE 53 DAYS WHEN THE LOW TEMPERATURE DROPPED TO OR BELOW THE FREEZING POINT AND THERE WERE 12 DAYS WHEN THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FAILED TO RISE TO OR ABOVE THE FREEZING POINT. HIGH TEMPERATURES OF 90 DEGREES OR HIGHER WERE RECORDED ON 51 DAYS IN 1996. ALSO...THERE WERE 10 DAYS WHEN THE HIGH TEMPERATURE REACHED 95 DEGREES OR GREATER. THE HEATING DEGREE DAY TOTAL FOR THE YEAR WAS 3258 WHICH WAS 176 ABOVE NORMAL. THE COOLING DEGREE DAY TOTAL FOR THE YEAR WAS 2011 WHICH WAS 107 BELOW NORMAL. TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...WHICH INCLUDES RAIN... MELTED SLEET AND SNOW...AMOUNTED TO 76.01 INCHES WHICH IS 23.91 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS IS THE SECOND GREATEST ANNUAL PRECIPITATION TOTAL FOR MEMPHIS SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1875. THE RECORD ANNUAL PRECIPITATION TOTAL IS 76.85 INCHES SET BACK IN 1957. THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS PRECIPITATION STATISTICS FOR EACH MONTH: MONTH PRECIPITATION DEPARTURE RAIN DAYS JANUARY 5.53 +1.80 10 FEBRUARY 2.77 -1.58 5 MARCH 5.31 -0.10 10 APRIL 3.37 -2.09 8 MAY 6.28 +1.30 7 JUNE 10.17 +6.60 9 JULY 9.87 +6.08 10 AUGUST 2.07 -1.36 6 SEPTEMBER 5.89 +2.36 9 OCTOBER 7.12 +4.11 9 NOVEMBER 11.46 +6.36 11 DECEMBER 6.17 +0.43 8 ........................................................... YEAR 76.01 +23.91 102 THE JUNE TOTAL WAS THE FOURTH GREATEST TOTAL FOR JUNE. THE JULY TOTAL SET A NEW MONTHLY RECORD FOR JULY. THE OCTOBER TOTAL WAS THE SEVENTH GREATEST TOTAL FOR OCTOBER. THE NOVEMBER TOTAL WAS THE THIRD GREATEST TOTAL FOR NOVEMBER. MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION...DEFINED AS 0.01 INCH OR MORE...FELL ON 102 DAYS WHICH IS BELOW THE AVERAGE OF 107 DAYS. THE GREATEST AMOUNT THAT FELL IN A 24 HOUR CALENDAR DAY WAS 4.48 INCHES ON NOVEMBER 30TH. SNOWFALL...WHICH INCLUDES SNOW AND SLEET...TOTALED 0.6 INCHES WHICH IS WELL BELOW THE LONG TERM AVERAGE OF 5.3 INCHES. THIS WAS THE EIGHTH YEAR IN A ROW THAT SNOWFALL WAS BELOW NORMAL IN MEMPHIS.