The New Year is finally here and it's time to reflect back on our weather from last year.

I came to KMBC in late April - just in time for our spring severe weather season. In fact, I wanted to start before May since that's the peak of tornado season. I think we only had a handful of tornado warnings. Most of which, were only radar-indicated. I don't want you to think I'm pushing for tornadoes because I'm certainly not. But, they sure are fascinating to study.

We didn't see much activity until June when the heavy rains developed, mainly South of Kansas City I'll never forget the flood damage from Osawatomie. Even though it seemed like we picked up a tremendous amount of rain last summer, we ended 2007, 4.96" below normal. It was the 43rd driest year on record. Our total precipitation for Kansas City last year was 33.02". The highest monthly total occurred in October with 6.46" (Tenth wettest October on record). The lowest monthly total was 0.20" in November. This was when we experienced our longest stretch of the year with no measurable precipitation. That lasted for 25 days from October 27 through November 20.

In a 24-hour period, 3.06" of rain fell from May 6-7. And the total snowfall for the winter season was 10.2" (Normal is 20.1"). The most snow fell in December with 9.4" (Let's not forget early that month when we lived through an ice storm, which was really bad north of Kansas City - especially in St. Joseph).

While other parts of the country were having hotter than normal temperatures, so were we. The average temperature for last year was 55.6 degrees. This was 1.4 degrees above normal. It was the 45th warmest year on record. Too bad our records only date back 119 years. If they were longer, we'd have a better understanding of how much the earth is truly warming.

We hit a high of 102 degrees on August 15 - the highest of the year. The lowest temperature was reached on February 15 and 16...3 degrees below zero! Amazingly, no record highs were made. But, two record lows were achieved. One on April 17 when it was 18 (That broke a record of 24 degrees from 1936...and you don't break records that old every day!). The next record low was a day later. A low of 20 on April 18 (Old record was 24 - from 1914!).

It looks like we could be facing another year where temperatures trend above average...and as far as precipitation goes, we're slightly above average right now, but not by an overwhelming shot. With La Nina in place, it sure will be cold for the next couple of months. Bundle up and be prepared for more snow!

*Temperature and precipitation amounts courtesy of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, National Weather Service*