MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA AUGUST 2008 OBSERVER 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 24-hour At Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Obs Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 79 64 69 F 2 75 66 66 .03 T 3 73 59 64 4 78 58 67 F 5 71 62 68 .08 F 6 76 66 66 .54 T 7 74 59 60 .14 T 8 69 56 59 .11 T 9 69 52 58 10 68 57 57 .13 T 11 64 54 59 .04 12 70 56 59 13 76 54 62 14 70 58 58 .01 F,T 15 69 57 57 F 16 71 52 60 F 17 73 56 60 18 76 56 65 19 77 59 59 20 76 49 61 21 80 57 59 22 77 54 58 23 79 53 64 24 83 61 65 25 78 62 62 .02 F 26 74 50 58 27 71 54 58 .01 28 58 55 58 1.87 F 29 76 59 63 .11 F 30 76 59 61 T 31 75 55 61 AVG/SUM 73.6 57.1 61.3 3.09 0.0 - EXT 83 49 - 1.87 - - Date 24 20 - 28 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 65.3 F Year precipitation to date: 39.93" Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog 9 Thunder 6 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES 1: Mostly cloudy & foggy early. Becoming fair to partly cloudy and seasonably warm with light W winds. Nearly continuous lightning to W & S late this evening from a big complex of storms in that direction. 2: More raging storms passed south of us during the overnight hours but just a distant light show here. A brief shower at 8:45am gave us .03" rain. Variably cloudy skies with sprinkles and some thunder at 3pm with storms again passing to the south. 3: Variably to partly cloudy skies & slightly cooler w/ light NW winds. 4: Clear skies with dense valley fog this morning. Sunny becoming partly cloudy during the afternoon. 5: Heavy overcast this morning with a period of rain 8:30-10am (.08") and fog developing. Remained mostly cloudy with a few peaks of sun by 5pm. 6: An overnight thunderstorm from 3:30-4:15am brought .54" of rain, frequent lightning & wind gusts to 25 mph. Became partly cloudy by mid-morning w/ calm to light NW winds. 7: Partly to mostly sunny AM, becoming partly to mostly cloudy PM with numerous thunder- storms passing north of here. A brief shower at 4:30pm and another shower with thunder from 5:30-6pm brought another .13" rain. 8: Variable clouds, cooler and breezy with NW winds to 20 mph. A fast-moving thunderstorm brought .11" rain from 1:30-1:45pm. Relatively low humidity and dry the rest of the day. 9: Clear and cool this morning. Partly to mostly sunny skies w/ light W winds all day. 10: Brief pre-dawn shower (.02"). Partly cloudy through the day w/ light W winds and clouds increasing by 6pm. Light rain with some lightning & thunder at 8pm, with occasional light to moderate showers through 11pm another .11" rainfall. Nothing like the severe weather that hammered the eastern third of the state - at my vacation location at Pocono Lake, PA, a severe thunderstorm dropped golf ball sized hail! 11: A pre-dawn shower (.02"). Mostly cloudy skies w/ light NW winds and cool with another brief shower this afternoon. 12: Partly cloudy, becoming mostly sunny, a bit warmer, light occasionally gusty W winds. 13: Mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, warmer, light & variable winds. Some faint lightning to the south late this evening from an isolated storm cell near the old hometown of LaVale, MD. 14: Early fog with light NW winds, then partly to mostly cloudy skies. Very strong and slow moving thunderstorms were headed this direction from the west - looked like we'd get dumped on, instead they evaporated just as they got here, a lot of rumbling and some brief wind gusts but a meager .01" rain fell. 15: Early fog then partly to mostly cloudy skies, near calm winds and somewhat cool. 16: Clear skies overhead this morning with dense valley fog. Skies becoming mostly sunny then partly to mostly cloudy in PM hours w/ winds light and from the ENE this time. 17: Mostly sunny with a period of increased cloud cover from mid-late afternoon. Light SW winds. 18: Clear early, fair to partly cloudy skies continued through the day w/ light W winds. 19: Clear skies early then variable cloudiness. Light to occasionally moderate W breezes. 20: Clear & cool this morning. Pleasant afternoon with fair skies & light W winds. 21: Sunny again and slightly warmer with a high of 80 F - first 80 degree day of the month! 22: Sunny and pleasant again with light S winds. 23: Fair and mild with light S winds. 24: Sunny morning followed by variable PM clouds, warm high 83 F with increasing humidity. 25: Brief shower shortly after midnight (.02"), otherwise partly cloudy after some patchy morning fog, light winds shifting to the NNW. 26: Cool low 50 F, sunny/fair conditions with light & variable winds. 27: Breezy conditions w/ S winds gusting to 20 mph and increasing clouds by early after- noon. Overcast w/ sprinkles at times and a couple of very light rain showers, only .01" fell even through the radar showed yellow/orange directly overhead. Must be some very dry air evaporating the rain as it falls! RAIN!!! 28: Steady rain developed overnight, light at first, then becoming heavy at times after 4am. Periods of moderate rain continued through the midday hours w/ fog developing by mid-morning and cool temperatures remaining in the 50s. Occasional light showers, drizzle & fog all day. 1.87" fell by midnight, the heaviest of 2008 so far, and was very welcome given the recent dryness. The rain came from the remnants of TS Fay. 29: Some light overnight rain & drizzle tapering off, another .11" fell for a storm total of 1.99". Decreasing clouds by mid-afternoon with temperatures inching up to 70 F. 30: Overcast and hazy skies through the mid-afternoon w/ a few sprinkles at times. Finally some clearing by late afternoon with milder temperatures. 31: Clear and pleasantly cool overnight. Sunny w/ brilliant blue skies and low humidity, not a cloud in the sky all day. Perfect weather for the annual FolkFest! MONTHLY SUMMARY This August was a stark contrast from last year, which had warm temperatures and record wetness (10.48" of rain). It was noticably cool and dry - a somewhat rare combination for a summer month. Despite the cool pattern, very little rain fell, especially after the 11th. Lawns were beginning to look rather parched, but finally received some very beneficial soaking rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay with 1.87" rainfall on the 28th and a 1.99" 36-hour storm total from late on the 27th to early on the 29th. Fay accounted for nearly 2/3 of the month's total rainfall and clearly saved us from a near record-dry month. Still, precipitation totaled 3.09 inches, more than an inch below the "normal" of 4.10, and August is so far the driest month of 2008, despite having the heaviest rain day. This year continues the trend of at least one heavy rain event in August - here is a look back at the past 4 Augusts: August 2005: 4.86" total rainfall, 2.78" on Aug. 8, heaviest rain day of 2005 (rain from a nearly stationary thunderstorm - also lightning struck a tree 30 feet from the house). August 2006: 3.32" total rainfall, 1.63" on Aug. 15, 2nd heaviest rain day of 2006 (the heaviest rain day of 2006 was October 17th when 1.75" fell). August 2007: 10.48" total rainfall, 2.65" on Aug. 9, heaviest rain day of 2007. The next two 2007 heaviest rain days were also this month: 1.55" on the 20th and 1.69" on the 21st. August 2008: 3.09" total rainfall, 1.87" on Aug. 28, heaviest rain day of 2008 (SO FAR). As for temperatures, they were below normal, with highs generally in the 70s and lows typically in the mid-upper 50s. Only 2 days made it to 80 or higher. This is certainly unusual for what is climatologically the 2nd hottest, sometimes the hottest, month of the year. Last year we had 11 days 80 F or higher. The cool August that also lacked humidity completed a very "nice" summer in which temperatures were usually near to below normal and there were no extended periods of heat or extremely warm days as in some previous years. Summer precipitation was close to normal, with 13.72" falling, just .35" below the normal value of 14.07". The weather pattern seemed to get drier as the summer went on with fewer thunderstorms. The near 2-inch rain from Fay was an exception to the pattern and is a reflection of what appears to be an active tropical season.