Every 10 years, NOAA updates their 30-year average climate statistics. It provides a better picture of what is typical for a location at a certain time of year.

Let’s compare the old 1981-2010 climate statistics to the new 1991-2020 climate statistics for Buffalo.

What You Need To Know

  • For most months, Buffalo has seen an increase in temperature from the 1981-2010 data set to the current 1991-2020 data set

  • December is no longer Buffalo's snowiest month

  • Early spring is the exception to the warmer weather

With a warming climate, most of our monthly average temperatures increased. The largest increase happened during December.

Buffalo’s average high temperature increased from 36.1 to 37.2 degrees. The average low increased from 24.1 to 25.6 degrees.

The overall average temperature increased by 1.3 degrees. While that may not seem like much, it is a massive increase in a short amount of time.

With the warmer weather, our average snowfall also decreased by 2.1 inches.

On average, December was our snowiest month. However, with the new data, January is now our snowiest month. January saw an increase of 1.4 inches for our average monthly snow.

I feel that fall weather continues to become more elite, while spring is starting to get more drawn out, and the numbers also back that up.

Our meteorological fall months, September, October and November, are now statistically warmer. It is especially true for September and October. The average monthly temperature has increased by 1.2 degrees in September and 0.9 degrees in October.

In contrast, March and April are the exceptions to the warming. Both March and April now have cooler average highs, with March’s new average high being 0.2 degrees cooler and April’s 0.3 degrees cooler. March also saw an increase in our average monthly snow by 1.2 inches.

As a whole, we are trending warmer, with 11 of the 12 months now having a warmer average monthly temperature.

On average, November used to be our wettest month. However, September has now taken the number 1 spot, which used to be number 2, and November is now our 4th wettest month.

To sum it up, we’re getting warmer, especially during the fall and early winter months. It is getting a bit colder in early spring. However, it is not quite the degree of warming in the fall.

Let’s do this again in another 10 years and see if the trends continue. I have a feeling they will and more than likely to a greater degree.