From the Director's Desk: Colder than Last Year, for now, Your Average December, Happy Holidays from the Pellet Fuels Institute
Colder than Last Year, for now
This morning I woke my teenage sons to help me shovel what has to be the heaviest, densest half-inch of ‘snow’ to ever fall in Minnesota. The Twin Cities area hovered right around freezing, just above it, for most of the night and the result was the kind of winter precipitation that has no fans. Tonight, the mercury is projected to fall far enough under the freezing mark that snow, not slush accumulates on our driveway, perhaps as much as 6 or 7 inches. Meanwhile, our friends in Massena, New York are bracing for 12-18 inches of snow but snow with warmer temps. Thursday’s forecasts (yesterday) are calling for the upper 30s. Massena isn’t alone with snow falling on balmier temps. PFI HDD Index community Lebanon, New Hampshire is expecting 3-6 inches but with moderate temperatures in the upper 30s in the walk-up to the holiday. Similarly Buffalo, New York will see off-and-on precipitation over the next 10 days but with moderate temps hovering right around freezing. UPDATE: The Twin Cities area received another 3 inches of wet heavy snow last night (Wednesday) and the bottom is forecast to fall out of the thermostat during the holiday week. It sounds like we won’t be alone (see Photo of the Week).
Your Average December
Here’s a look at wood pellet production, sales, and inventory numbers in December:
Average December Production: 132,589 tons
Average December Sales: 188,664 tons
Average December Inventory Position: 192,618 tons
Highest December Production: 165,606 tons (2019)
Highest December Sales: 216,915 tons (2016)
Highest December Inventory Position: 443,338 tons (2016)
December is a curious month in the arc of the home heating season. The month sits squarely between the late fall months when pellet consumers lay in their fuel inventory for the first half of the year, but well before a deep winter would deplete those inventories, necessitating the late season buy that can juice a good a year. Last December was particularly woeful at just 144,315 tons in sales an all-time low for the month. We won’t know until March, but I suspect this winter storm and a subsequent cold snap will offer a nice rebound from last year’s disappointment.
Happy Holidays from the Pellet Fuels Institute
I hope this Pellet Wire finds you and yours in good health and stead. Incredibly, we find ourselves putting the final touches on 2022. It feels like the year just got started. I wish you all a safe and festive holiday season. We’ll wrap the year in the next and final Pellet Wire of 2022, offering some commentary on the year that was and the year to come.
—Tim Portz Executive Director
