Despite 27 low-temperature records falling throughout the Northeast in September, the average temperatures for the month were not far from normal -- making this the 30th coolest September in the last 103 years of records, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

"It wasn't much cooler than normal," said Keith Eggleston, climatologist at the center. "It wasn't terrible at all. In the middle of September, we had temperatures slightly warmer than normal and that put the month close to normal."

Eggleston explained that while temperature departures from normal were quite variable across the Northeast, the temperatures averaged only 0.6 degrees below normal on an area-weighted basis.

The largest temperature departures in the Northeast were in West Virginia, extending into the western part of Pennsylvania. West Virginia was 1.8 degrees colder than normal. Maine reported the largest positive temperature departure at 0.6 degrees above normal. Several locations in upstate New York and northern New England reported the region's first widespread fall frost on Sept. 27.

Precipitation for the Northeast was slightly below normal during September. Coastal areas from southern New England through the Delmarva Peninsula received less than half their normal September precipitation amounts. Other parts of the region experienced two major precipitation episodes. The first, on Sept. 11, brought significant amounts of rain -- between two and four inches -- to some locations from the Catskills in New York to the Maryland and West Virginia panhandles.

The month's second major event, on Sept. 28 and 29, scattered heavy similar rainfall amounts farther west, from western New York to northern West Virginia. Overall, the Northeast received 85 percent of the normal precipitation. This was the second driest September in the last nine years. Rhode Island was the driest state with 36 percent of normal. For Connecticut, with 42 percent of normal precipitation, it was the ninth driest September on record. With 103 percent of normal precipitation, New York was the only state to average slightly above normal.

Minimum Temperature Records

City                          Date     New     Previous

Baltimore                     4th     50¡      54¡  in 1965
Beckley, W.Va.                4th     42¡      45¡  in 1967
Bridgeport, Conn.             4th     51¡      53¡  in 1989
Charleston, W.Va.             4th     44¡      45¡  in 1946
Elkins, W.Va.                 4th     36¡      37¡  in 1946
Latrobe, Pa.                  4th     39¡      47¡  in 1989
Morgantown, W.Va.             4th     42¡      45¡  in 1982
Newark, N.J.                  4th     52¡      53¡  in 1975
Parkersburg, W.Va.            4th     42¡      47¡  in 1908
Philadelphia (tie)            4th     52¡      52¡  in 1946
Pittsburgh                    4th     42¡      48¡  in 1946
Rochester, N.Y. (tie)         4th     40¡      40¡  in 1987
Scranton, Pa.                 4th     40¡      42¡  in 1946
Wilmington, Del.              4th     47¡      50¡  in 1982
Allentown, Pa.                5th     44¡      47¡  in 1974
Baltimore                     5th     47¡      51¡  in 1897
Beckley, W.Va.                5th     40¡      42¡  in 1974
Elkins, W.Va.                 5th     37¡      39¡  in 1902
Newark, N.J.                  5th     50¡      53¡  in 1950
Scranton, Pa. (tie)           5th     43¡      43¡  in 1994
Wilmington, Del.              5th     48¡      50¡  in 1982
tie:
Allentown, N.J.               22nd    36¡      37¡  in 1962
Atlantic City Apt., N.J.(tie) 22nd    38¡      38¡  in 1991
Bridgeport, Conn. (tie)       22nd    42¡      42¡  in 1962
Newark, N.J. (tie)            22nd    44¡      44¡  in 1962
Wilmington, Del.              25th    37¡      38¡  in 1963
Binghamton, N.Y. (tie)        28th    31¡      31¡  in 1965

Maximum Temperature Record

City                          Date     New     Previous

Atlantic City marina, N.J.    16th     85¡      84¡  in 1965