This report describes the historical weather record at the Kokomo Municipal Airport (Kokomo, Indiana, United States) during 2012. This station has records back to July 1994.
Kokomo, Indiana has a humid continental climate with hot summers and no dry season. The area within 25 mi of this station is covered by croplands (98%)
Daylight saving time (DST) was observed at Kokomo, Indiana during 2012. There were two time changes during 2012:
2012 was a leap year and thus has 366 days rather than the normal 365. Leap years occur every fourth year and the extra day is always February 29th. In 2012 February 29th falls on a Wednesday.
The summer and winter solstices and the spring and fall equinoxes mark the passing of the seasons. They fall on nearly the same day each year, with differences of a day or two depending on the year. In 2012 they occurred on:
|Spring Equinox||Tuesday, 20 March 2012.|
|Summer Solstice||Wednesday, 20 June 2012.|
|Fall Equinox||Saturday, 22 September 2012.|
|Winter Solstice||Friday, 21 December 2012.|
The hottest day of 2012 was June 28, with a high temperature of 102°F. For reference, on that day the average high temperature is 84°F and the high temperature exceeds 91°F only one day in ten. The hottest month of 2012 was July with an average daily high temperature of 90°F.
Relative to the average, the hottest day was March 21. The high temperature that day was 86°F, compared to the average of 56°F, a difference of 30°F. In relative terms the warmest month was March, with an average high temperature of 65°F, compared to an typical value of 52°F.
The longest warm spell was from March 10 to March 26, constituting 17 consecutive days with warmer than average high temperatures. The month of March had the largest fraction of warmer than average days with 77% days with higher than average high temperatures.
The coldest day of 2012 was January 20, with a low temperature of -2°F. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 20°F and the low temperature drops below 8°F only one day in ten. The coldest month of 2012 was January with an average daily low temperature of 23°F.
Relative to the average, the coldest day was January 20. The low temperature that day was -2°F, compared to the average of 20°F, a difference of 23°F. In relative terms the coldest month was November, with an average low temperature of 31°F, compared to an typical value of 37°F.
The longest cold spell was from October 26 to November 10, constituting 16 consecutive days with cooler than average low temperatures. The month of November had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 83% days with lower than average low temperatures.
The clearest month of 2012 was June, with 90% of days being more clear than cloudy. The longest spell of clear weather was from July 2 to July 19, constituting 18 consecutive days that were clearer than they were cloudy.
The cloudiest month of 2012 was January, with 48% of days being more cloudy than clear. The longest spell of cloudy weather was from December 24 to December 30, constituting 7 consecutive days that were cloudier than they were clear.
This station reports the quantity of liquid precipitation but not observations of weather events in the area. For this reason, this section will only discuss the quantity of precipitation and not its type.
The day with the largest quantity of precipitation was September 7. That day saw 2.622" of liquid (or liquid equivalent) precipitation, compared to a median value of 0.157". The month with the most precipitation was September, with 4.020", compared to a median value of 2.896".
As determined by quantitative measurements, the longest dry spell was from June 22 to July 14, constituting 23 consecutive days with no measured precipitation. The month with the largest fraction of dry days was June, with 97% of days reporting no measured precipitation at all.
The month with the largest fraction of days with at least some measured precipitation was October, with 29% of days reporting some measured precipitation.
Either snow is exceptionally rare at this location or this station did not reliably report it during 2012.
Humidity is an important factor in determining how weather conditions feel to a person experiencing them. Hot and humid days feel even hotter than hot and dry days because the high level of water content in humid air discourages the evaporation of sweat from a person's skin.
When reading the graph below, keep in mind that the hottest part of the day tends to be the least humid, so the daily low (brown) traces are more relevant for understanding daytime comfort than the daily high (blue) traces, which typically occur during the night. Applying that observation, the least humid month of 2012 was June with an average daily low humidity of 31%, and the most humid month was December with an average daily low humidity of 71%.
But it is important to keep in mind that humidity does not tell the whole picture and the dew point is often a better measure of how comfortable a person will find a given set of weather conditions. Please see the next section for continued discussion of this point.
Dew point is the temperature below which water vapor will condense into liquid water. It is therefore also related to the rate of evaporation of liquid water. Since the evaporation of sweat is an important cooling mechanism for the human body, the dew point is an important measurement for understanding how dry, comfortable, or humid a given set of weather conditions will feel.
Generally speaking, dew points below 50°F will feel a bit dry to some people, but comfortable to people accustomed to dry conditions; dew points from 50°F to 68°F are fairly comfortable to most people, and dew points above 68°F are increasingly uncomfortable, becoming oppressive around 77°F.
To take some examples, and basing our categorization on the daily high dew point in 2012, January had 31 dry days, no comfortable days, and no humid days; April had 22 dry days, 8 comfortable days, and no humid days; July had no dry days, 16 comfortable days, and 14 humid days; and October had 17 dry days, 12 comfortable days, and no humid days.
The highest sustained wind speed was 39 mph, occurring on March 28; the highest daily mean wind speed was 26 mph (January 1); and the highest wind gust speed was 55 mph (July 24).
The windiest month was January, with an average wind speed of 13 mph. The least windy month was August, with an average wind speed of 6 mph.
Visibility is the maximum distance at which a given reference object or light can be clearly discerned. In the United States, visibilities that are greater than or equal to 10 miles are typically reported as 10 miles.
The day of 2012 with the lowest average visibility was November 18, with an average visibility of 2.4 mi. The month with the lowest average visibility was January, with an average visibility of 8.3 mi. With an average visibility of 9.9 mi, the month of June had the highest average visibility.
The cloud ceiling is the altitude of the lowest layer of clouds that are at categorized as broken (mostly cloudy) or overcast (cloudy). If no such cloud layer exists then the ceiling is unlimited and no value is reported.
The day of 2012 with the lowest average cloud ceiling was November 21, with an average cloud ceiling of 0'. The month with the lowest average cloud ceiling was December, with an average cloud ceiling of 2718'. The month of July has the highest average cloud ceiling, with an average cloud ceiling of 6673'.