MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD APRIL 2012 OBSERVER SCOTT LOHR DATA COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY NATE MULLINS Special Observations: F=fog, T=thunder, H=hail, S=sleet, G=glaze, DW=damaging winds Observation time for this station is midnight. Temperature, °F Precipitation, In. Liquid Solid 7am DAY 24-hour Rain Snow/ Snow Special WEATHER Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Obs. SUMMARY 1 71 45 .23 Variable clouds, mild, PM rain showers 2 62 42 Mostly to partly cloudy 3 72 36 Fair early then partly sunny 4 70 52 Mostly to partly cloudy 5 58 35 Fair to partly cloudy 6 56 35 Fair to partly cloudy 7 62 33 Fair to partly cloudy 8 62 36 Sunny 9 60 48 T Partly to mostly cloudy, sprinkles 10 54 34 Partly cloudy 11 49 36 T 0.1 T Partly to mostly cloudy, blustery, snow squalls 12 56 37 Partly cloudy 13 62 35 Partly cloudy 14 68 35 .07 Variable clouds, a few rain showers 15 84 58 Mostly to partly cloudy, very warm 16 90 53 Mostly sunny and HOT, record high 90 17 71 52 Partly to mostly cloudy 18 55 50 .04 Brief AM showers, mostly cloudy, cooler 19 72 50 Partly sunny 20 75 45 Fair & warm 21 70 48 .08 Increasing clouds, brief PM shower 22 48 39 * Cloudy, cool, late PM rain. See 4/23 for total. 23 43 34 .60 T Cold rain, some wet snow mixed in, heavy mountain snow 24 55 36 Partly cloudy, milder 25 66 35 Mostly to partly cloudy 26 72 49 .04 Variable clouds, mild, brief PM shower 27 55 42 Partly to mostly cloudy, cool 28 53 41 .09 Increasing clouds, PM shower, cool 29 71 36 Mostly cloudy 30 71 40 Partly cloudy, pleasant AVG/SUM 63.8 41.6 1.15 0.1 T EXT 90 33 0.60 0.1 T Date 16 7 23 11 11 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 52.7°F (+0.9°F) Year precipitation to date: 9.66" (-3.50") Monthly precipitation departure: (-2.57"), normal April 3.72" Season snowfall to date: 16.5" (-24.0") Number of days with: - *NO SPECIAL OBSERVATIONS THIS MONTH* NOTES/SIGNIFICANT EVENTS Additional Notes/Records: 11: Light dusting of snow (0.1") is actually a daily record for April 11. 16: RECORD HIGH 90 F. Previous record 88 in 2002. 22: Max of 48 ties last year (2011) for a record low. 23: Record low max 43 F. Previous record 46 in 1984. *April 2012 was the 3rd driest April on record with 1.15" of total precipitation. Also, this was only the 2nd April on recent records (the other was 2010) with NO freezing temperatures. In addition, there were NO special observations - no fog, thunder, hail etc. for the first month I can ever remember. MONTHLY SUMMARY April 2012 was a very quiet weather month, with near normal temperatures and well below normal precipitation. The main highlight was the late season winter storm that brought rain mixed with wet snow on the 23rd. The snow accumulated several inches on top of Piney Mountain just to our west. Several inches also fell in Frostburg and much of Garrett County - highly dependent on elevation. The highest ridges had very heavy amounts in the 1 to 2 foot range - one of the greatest late season heavy snow events in history. Only 1928 had a similar event. On April 28-29 of that year, a foot of snow fell on LaVale, with over 2 feet at higher elevations. This April replaced 2010 for the 3rd driest on record, with a very wet April 2011 in between. Another noteworthy observation was the lack of any particularly cold readings for the 5th April in a row. In fact, like 2010, there were no freezing temperatures, which is very unusual for April. There was a brief heat wave - one week before the record mountain snows, a record high of 90 was recorded on the 16th. Yet another significant observation was that there were NO thunderstorms in April, for the first time I can remember. This is after 5 days of thunder in March (and also on Feb. 29). April 2011 was one of the stormiest on record with thunder heard on 7 days and two EF-0 tornadoes late in the month (28th) that hit the Green Ridge area. Not only were there no thunderstorms this April, but there were NO special observations - not even fog.