The period of Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 was the wettest for the Northeast in 102 years of records, according to climatologists from the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

"This was quite a turn-around from last year, when anomalously cold and dry weather characterized the first full month of the autumn season," said Keith Eggleston, regional climatologist.

For the January-September period, this year's precipitation of 39.89 inches, a weighted average across the Northeast's 12 state region, topped the 1979 record of 38.33 inches of precipitation. Here are the top five years of precipitation for the January through September period:

While this year's January through September precipitation total is the greatest on record for the Northeast, the ranking for each of the states in the region are as follows:

Warm and wet conditions prevailed in September. Precipitation over the 12 northeastern states produced the sixth wettest September in 102 years of record. Four states reported one of their 10 wettest Septembers on record: West Virginia (first), Pennsylvania (second), Maryland (eighth) and Connecticut (10th). West Virginia's total of 6.80 inches was almost twice the monthly normal.

New Hampshire was closest to normal precipitation with 105 percent of the long-term mean. The region overall averaged 155 percent of normal. Hurricanes Fran and Edouard contributed to this month's high rainfall amounts. The heavy rain led to flooding in several Middle Atlantic river basins early in the month.

Most of the Northeast experienced warmer than normal temperatures for the month. In the southern part of the region, Maryland and West Virginia reported temperatures that averaged slightly cooler than normal. The largest positive departures, meanwhile, were found in the north, with Vermont and New Hampshire reporting departures of more than 2 degrees above normal, making it the 13th warmest September on record in Vermont. All states in between these two extreme ends of the region reported monthly average temperatures that fell slightly on their warm side of normal.

New Weather Records