MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS WESTMONT (JOHNSTOWN) PA DECEMBER 2005 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 Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 33 27 .02 0.3 2 27 17 .14 3.0 2 3 27 13 .07 0.8 3 S 4 30 23 .25 1.0 3 F,S,G 5 28 22 T T 3 6 25 17 T 0.1 2 7 21 12 .01 0.5 3 8 25 9 .32 3.3 2 S 9 26 18 .61 4.5 10 S 10 34 13 T T 9 11 29 26 .22 2.0 8 12 26 12 .18 2.5 12 13 20 6 10 14 18 8 9 15 24 14 .79 6.0 8 F,S,G 16 31 24 .12 1.5 13 T 17 28 19 12 18 33 19 T T 11 19 27 16 .11 2.0 13 20 21 8 T 0.1 12 21 24 15 .02 0.7 12 22 32 22 T T 11 23 44 30 10 24 47 37 8 25 37 33 .52 T 7 F,G 26 33 27 .38 3.0 5 F,S 27 30 26 T T 8 F 28 45 30 7 F 29 39 30 .08 T 5 F 30 32 28 T T 4 F 31 35 28 .16 0.1 3 F,S,G AVG/SUM 30.0 20.3 4.00 31.4 7.5 (mean depth) EXT 47 6 0.79 6.0 13 Date 24 13 15 15 19* *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 25.2 F Year precipitation to date: 44.40" (final total for 2005) Season snowfall to date: 41.4" Number of days with: Fog: 9 Ice Pellets: 7 Glaze: 4 Thunder: 1 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 0 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: 1: Cloudy and continued cold. Light snow developed during the evening, 0.3" fell by midnight. West winds increased to 10-20 mph by late evening. 2: Light snow overnight, all day and evening another 3.0" fell, storm total 3.3". Very windy with west winds gusting 30-40 mph at times. Cold. Temperatures slowly dropped through the day. 3: Flurries ended after midnight. Partly to mostly cloudy becoming all cloudy by mid-afternoon. Snow began 10:15pm and continued through midnight mixing with sleet 0.8" fell by midnight. 4: Mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow overnight. Mostly light. Another .25" precip fell and 1.0" of snow and ice. Breezy and remained cold, mostly cloudy, occasional light freezing drizzle. 5: Cloudy and cold with a few late evening flurries. 6: Cloudy early becoming partly cloudy during the day. Windy and continued cold with flurries and light snow showers this evening. 7: Light snow and snow showers overnight dropped a half-inch by 7am. Partly cloudy, cold and blustery with a few flurries. QUICK HEAVY SNOW 8: Mostly clear and cold overnight. Sunny AM then increasing clouds during the afternoon. Snow began about 8:45pm and continued through midnight occasionally mixed with sleet. 3.3" fell by midnight. The snow was heavy between 9 and 10pm with 2 inches falling within the hour. 9: Snow heavy at times continued after midnight tapering off by 4am. Some sleet mixed in. Light snow showers continued through the morning. Another 4.5" fell since midnight, storm total 7.8". Became very windy with west winds gusting 30-40 mph causing blowing and drifting snow. Evening flurries. 10: Flurries ended overnight. Mostly cloudy AM becoming mostly sunny PM and milder. 11: Cloudy and windy. Flurries this morning then occasional snow showers and squalls during the afternoon and evening. 2.0" new snow fell by midnight. 12: Snow showers continued overnight another 2.5" fell by 7:30 am. Storm total 4.5". Windy. Partial clearing with a few more light snow showers this afternoon. 13: Clear becoming cloudy overnight still a cold low 6 F. Became clear again but continued cold today. First day in the past 17 days without at least a trace of precipitation. 14: Clear then clouds rolled in by dawn again preventing a record low temp. Still cold low 8 F then mostly cloudy and continued chilly today high only 18 F. SNOW/ICE STORM 15: Intermittent freezing rain and sleet began around 9am. Steadier snow and sleet began by 11am and continued through the day. Precip became mostly snow by 6pm and was heavy at times through the evening. 2 inches fell between 6:30-7:30pm. 6.0" new snow by midnight. 16: Light snow continued overnight another 1.0" fell before tapering off around 4am. Mostly cloudy with slightly milder temps and gusty west winds 15-25 mph. Few PM snow showers and a snow squall with thunder (!) about 5:45pm dropped another 0.5" snow in 15 minutes. Total snow/ice from this event 7.5" and .91" water equivalent. 17: Partly cloudy becoming mostly sunny during the afternoon. 18: Mostly sunny. Became cloudy during the late evening with light snow 11pm-midnight, trace. 19: Light steady snow overnight. About 2.0" fell by 7am. Cold, breezy and blustery with snow flurries continuing through the day. 20: Became sunny and continued cold. Clouds moved in by dusk with light snow showers by 10pm, trace. 21: Light snow showers overnight. 3/4" of new snow by 7am. Mostly cloudy, breezy and cold with snow flurries through the day. 22: Snow flurries ended overnight. Partly to mostly cloudy through the day, slightly milder. 23: Partly cloudy to mostly sunny and milder high 44 F. 24: Mostly sunny, relatively mild and pleasant. WHITE AND WET CHRISTMAS 25: Became cloudy overnight. Rain began this morning around 9am briefly mixed with snow at first. Rain moderate at times. Although temps were above freezing, some ice/glaze formed on colder ground surfaces. Patchy fog moved in around noon. Most of the rain ended by 2pm, .52" fell. SNOW/WINDY 26: Some light drizzle and fog overnight. Snow began around 7am and continued most of the day occasionally moderate at times and tapering to flurries by 3pm. 3.0" fell by then. Became very windy with slowly falling temperatures and blowing snow. West winds gusted 30-40 mph. 27: A few snow flurries overnight. Winds slowly diminished. Mostly cloudy, few lingering flurries. Clearing skies by late evening with patchy fog. 28: Temperatures warmed through the 30s overnight and reached a mild 45 this afternoon. Mostly cloudy skies, calm wind. 29: Overcast with periods of light rain and drizzle, mainly during the morning. Temperatures slowly fell below freezing and became windy by late evening. 30: Some light freezing drizzle overnight, otherwise mostly cloudy with temps around 30 all day. 31: Some light rain and sleet showers this morning with patchy fog .09" fell by noon. Remained mostly cloudy. Period of light freezing rain, sleet and snow this evening. Another .07" precip and about 0.1" ice and snow. SUMMARY: December was cold and snowy. A persistent trough over the Northeast kept us consistently cold the first three weeks, before a milder Pacific air mass moderated temperatures around the holidays. Most of the snow fell during the first half, with two storms (8th-9th, 15th-16th) dropping over 7 inches. Sleet and freezing rain fell on a number of occasions, and thunder-snow was also observed.