The month of April has featured crazy temperature swings.
The temperature hit 86°F at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport on April 14th and four days later, on April 18, the high temperature only reached 44°F. Then, the high temperature was back up to 82°F by Thursday.
We are once again experiencing cooler temperatures Saturday morning and below average temperatures might continue for the rest of the month.
April’s crazy weather might have you wondering which month has the wildest weather. Today, developed a scoring system to answer that question.
Wild weather factor
This scoring system was developed based on what types of weather affect people the most. Keep in mind that this system is not official by any means.
The “Wild weather factor,” or WWF for short, is merely a means to determine which month features the craziest weather. Please let me know of ways I can improve my system!
First, if a month checks any of the following boxes then it gets a point added to the WWF.
- Temperature departure (largest swing in record high and record low)
- Heaviest rain (month with the highest average rainfall)
- Heaviest snow (month with the high average snowfall)
- Heat (month with the highest record high temperature)
- Cold (month with the lowest record low temperature)
- Severe weather (month with the most severe weather)
- 90 degree day (1 point if month has ever had a 90°F high)
- Below zero (1 point if month has ever had a below zero temperature)
And the winner is…
Spring often has the reputation for having the craziest weather of the year, but the WWF did not choose a spring month as having the wildest weather. The results are actually a tie between January and July with a score of 4.
January has the title for the wildest swing in temperature. The record high temperature of all time in January is 71°F while the record low temperature of all time is -22°F. That is a difference of 93 degrees! January also gets a point for having the highest average snowfall at 19.6″, the coldest temperature at -22°F, and below zero temperatures.
While July has the title for most precipitation (4.27″), hottest temperature (103°F), month with the most severe weather and a month that features 90°F temperatures. The results for every month are shown below.
| Month | Temp. Change | Most Rain | Most Snow | Hottest | Coldest | Severe Wx | 90 Degree | Below Zero | Total Score |
| January | 71°F, -22°F (93 degrees) | 3.03″ | 19.6″ | 71°F | -22°F | ✔ | 4 | ||
| February | 75°F, -16°F (91 degrees) | 2.52″ | 15.1″ | 75°F | -16°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| March | 82°F, -10°F (92 degrees) | 3.21″ | 10.5″ | 82°F | -10°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| April | 90°F, 11°F (79 degrees) | 3.75″ | 2.6″ | 90°F | 11°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| May | 95°F, 24°F (71 degrees) | 3.72″ | 0″ | 95°F | 24°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| June | 99°F, 30°F (69 degrees) | 3.90″ | 0″ | 99°F | 30°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| July | 103°F, 40°F (63 degrees) | 4.27″ | 0″ | 103°F | 40°F | ✔ | ✔ | 4 | |
| August | 100°F, 32°F (68 degrees) | 3.48″ | 0″ | 100°F | 32°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| September | 99°F, 27°F (72 degrees) | 3.84″ | 0″ | 99°F | 27°F | ✔ | 1 | ||
| October | 88°F, 20°F (68 degrees) | 3.34″ | 0.7″ | 88°F | 20°F | 0 | |||
| November | 80°F, 1°F (79 degrees) | 2.96″ | 4.5″ | 80°F | 1°F | 0 | |||
| December | 76°F, -12°F (88 degrees) | 3.17″ | 14.8″ | 76°F | -12°F | ✔ | 1 |
Using this index, no other month scored more than a 2. The index probably needs some tweaking, but it highlights the two months with the highest temperature and precipitation extremes. It makes sense for the snowiest month and the month with the coldest temperatures to score high. It also makes sense for the hottest month and the month with the most severe weather to score high.
Saturday will be cold and rainy, so it would be a great time to develop your own weather index.
