The one place in the Northeast most likely to have a white Christmas -- Caribou, Maine -- officially had but an inch of snow on the ground. It started the holiday at midnight with a high temperature of 44 degrees, not surprising since this was also Caribou's warmest December since the start of official records there in 1939, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

Throughout the 12-state Northeast region, temperatures were well above normal during December. The region reported an average temperature departure of 6 degrees above normal, which was warm enough to make it the fourth warmest December on record, according to Keith Eggleston, climatologist at the center. The normal average temperature for the region is 27.5 degrees, while weather observers measured 33.5 degrees this year.

Normally, Vermont's average temperature is 21.7 degrees, but was 29.8 last month. New Hampshire, which normally averages 22.8 degrees, was 30.6 degrees. Both Vermont and New Hampshire reported their warmest December on record. Maine had the widest temperature variation of all the Northeast states in December, with a temperature departure of 9.3 degrees above normal. Maine's average temperature of 19.5 degrees was displaced in December with a resounding 28.8 degrees, making it Maine's second warmest December in the last 102 years.

In other states:

• Connecticut, which normally averages 29.9 degrees, measured 35.5 degrees, for the state's eighth warmest December on record.
• With a normal 25.4 degrees, New York achieved an average of 31.8 degrees, making this its fifth warmest December.
• Rhode Island, which normally averages 33 degrees, measured 38.6 degrees, making this the state's eighth warmest December on record.
• With a normal 34.4 degrees, New Jersey obtained an average of 39.4 degrees, for the state's eighth warmest December on record.
• Massachusetts, which normally averages 29 degrees, measured 34.6 degrees, for the state's seventh warmest December on record.

The Northeast received an average of 5.06 inches of precipitation during December, an amount sufficient to make 1996 the Northeast's wettest calendar year on record. December 1996 ranked as the seventh wettest December on record in the region, as the monthly precipitation total represented 147 percent of the long-term normal, Eggleston said.

New Jersey reported 213 percent of normal for its wettest December since records began in 1895. The normal precipitation is 3.67 inches, but they measured 7.80 inches in December. With 7.28 inches of precipitation, Delaware doubled its monthly normal of 3.58 inches, making it that state's third wettest December during this same 102-year period. Among the 12 Northeastern states, West Virginia was the only one to report less than the normal amount of precipitation in December with 90 percent of its 3.4 inches average, Eggleston said.

Calendar Year Precipitation Records (inches)

City                          New     Previous
Philadelphia                  56.45     55.28 in 1873
Binghamton, N.Y.              49.00     48.04 in 1972
Ithaca, N.Y.                  47.76     46.87 in 1958
Blue Hill Obs., Mass.         65.77     65.51 in 1972
*Albany, N.Y.                 48.54     47.18 in 1972

*Wettest year this century; sixth wettest on record. 

December Monthly Precipitation Records (inches)

City                          New     Previous
Philadelphia                  7.51     7.37 in 1983

Daily Precipitation Records (inches)

City                          Date     New     Previous
Newark, N.J.                  14th     1.22     1.12 in 1956

Daily Snowfall Records

City                          Date     New     Previous
Harrisburg, Pa.               6th     5.8     3.6 in 1962

December Monthly Average Temperature Records

City                          New     Previous
Burlington, Vt.               32.7¡      31.9¡  in 1982
Caribou, Maine                26.2¡      24.0¡  in 1973
Portland, Maine               34.5¡      33.7¡  in 1990

High Temperature Records

City                          Date     New     Previous
Burlington, Vt.               18th     50¡      46¡  in 1912
Portland, Maine               18th     53¡      52¡  in 1954
Beckley, W.Va.                23rd     63¡      61¡  in 1990
Blue Hill Obs., Mass.         24th     58¡      57¡  in 1990
Boston                        24th     61¡      60¡  in 1990
Hartford, Conn. (tie)         24th     59¡      59¡  in 1990
Worcester, Mass. (tie)        24th     57¡      57¡  in 1990
Kennedy AP, N.Y. (tie)        24th     54¡      54¡  in 1971
Central Park, N.Y. (tie)      24th     63¡      63¡  in 1990