Ironwood in line for second coldest year dating to 1901

After experiencing the coldest year on record in 2014, Ironwood residents are now in line for the second most frigid 12-month period since 1901.

That's the word from Kevin Crupi, of the National Weather Service office in Marquette.

Crupi said Tuesday the average 2014 temperature for the January through September period in Ironwood was 39.2 degrees, compared with the long-term average of 43.7.

In his review of September, Crupi noted the thermometer reached 80 only once, on Sept. 28.

It was a wet month, with 5.2 inches of rain measured, compared to the long-term average of 4.06 inches.

The average temperature for September was 54.9 degrees, which was just .8 degree below normal. Crupi said warm weather in the last week of the month brought up the September average temperature considerably, with some areas in the Upper Peninsula 10 to 15 degrees above long-term averages.

The low reading in Ironwood was 35 on Sept. 12.

The greatest 24-hour precipitation total was 1.4 inches on Sept. 9-10. That was the rain that accompanied the gale-force winds that swept across Lake Superior, filling the shoreline with debris.

Daily weather readings are taken at 7 a.m. for the NWS at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off Cloverland Drive.

Elsewhere across the Upper Peninsula, 6.54 inches of rain fell at Iron Mountain and Daggett, in Menominee County, received 6.5 inches.

Copper Harbor recorded only 2.8 inches of rain for the month.

In the U.P. in September:

-The highest reported temperature was 85 near Ontonagon on Sept. 27.

-The low was 25 at Stambaugh in Iron County on Sept. 12.

-The highest average temperature was 59.2 at Escanaba.

-The lowest average reading was 51.6 at Stambaugh.

At the end of the month, the Lake Superior water level was almost 9 inches higher than in September of 2013 and almost 7 inches above the long-term norm.