MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS LAVALE MD DECEMBER 2006 OBSERVERS DAVID DREWERY AND CHARLES ORLICK (DATA COMPILED 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 24-hour Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 72 38 .27 F,DW 2 45 31 .01 3 50 28 .01 4 38 23 5 36 22 6 45 22 7 40 20 .02 0.5 T 8 33 20 T T 1 9 47 24 T 10 62 26 11 65 30 12 62 28 13 62 34 .08 14 64 32 .01 F 15 60 33 16 45 32 17 67 30 18 62 44 T 19 44 31 20 54 26 21 47 36 T 22 46 42 1.15 F 23 53 45 .02 24 46 37 25 45 36 .71 F,T 26 43 37 .07 F 27 40 35 .01 28 45 32 29 47 32 30 46 29 31 46 34 .20 AVG/SUM 50.2 31.3 2.56 0.5 T EXT 72 20 1.15 0.5 1 Date 1 8* 22 7 8 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 40.7 F Year precipitation to date: 34.39" (final total for 2006) Season snowfall to date: 0.5" Number of days with: Fog: 5 Ice Pellets: 1 Glaze: 0 Thunder: 0 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 1 DAILY NOTES: 1: Very mild with calm winds, fog and occasional light AM showers. Cold front moved though by 1pm with a brief heavy downpour and strong winds gusting 30-40 mph and higher in some areas causing scattered damage. Temperatures dropped from a balmy high of 72 F shortly after noon to 38 F by midnight. 2: Some early light drizzle then became mostly sunny with diminishing winds. 3: Partly cloudy with some light drizzle mainly early, calm wind. 4: Strong west winds gusting to 30 mph overnight and through the morning. Partly cloudy skies. 5: Cloudy early then partly cloudy with light SW winds. 6: Sunny with increasing clouds by 4pm. 7: Partly cloudy and colder with occasional gusty NW winds. Light snow showers began around 3pm accumulating 0.5" by midnight. 8: Flurries ended overnight. Partly cloudy, blustery and cold. 9: Sunny and milder with calmer winds. 10: Cool morning but a big rebound to a high of 62 F with sunshine. 11: Sunny and mild high 65 F. 12: Sunny and mild with increasing clouds after noon. 13: A period of light rain overnight .08" fell. Became partly cloudy, mild again. 14: Early fog then clearing and continued unseasonably mild high 64 F. 15: Partly cloudy and mild this morning. Became windy this afteroon with gusts to 30 mph and falling temperatures. 16: Partly cloudy and cooler with diminishing winds. 17: Cloudy and very mild high 67 F. 18: Cloudy, breezy and mild this morning with an early high of 62 F and a period of light drizzle around 10am then temperatures dropped after midday. 19: Cloudy early becoming clear by 10am with moderate north breezes. 20: Sunny and milder. 21: Cloudy with a few brief light showers during the early morning, trace. 22: Cloudy with steady moderate rain developing, continued all day and ended by 10pm 1.15" fell. Fog developed by noon. 23: Partly cloudy and breezy. 24: Mostly cloudy with light west winds. 25: Cloudy with periods of rain developing by 11am. Heavier rain with thunder around 7:30pm. First time thunder has been observed on Christmas day. 0.71" rain fell. 26: AM fog, clearing by 9am but remaining cloudy with occasional drizzle. 27: Cloudy and breezy early becoming sunny after 10am. 28: Partly cloudy early becoming cloudy by noon. 29: Partly cloudy with light winds. 30: Sunny with occasional light west breezes. 31: Cloudy and calm with period of rain beginning around 4pm, .20" fell by midnight. SUMMARY: This was the warmest December in 15 years of records, beginning with a record high of 72 on the 1st. Temperatures were consistently above normal with only a few brief cold spells and no extreme cold. The month's low of 20 was the warmest December min on record. Precipitation was right on my 15-year mean of 2.56 inches, but this mean is skewed as we've had a streak of dry Decembers (8 of the last 10 Decembers below 2.6 inches). Most of the month's precipitation fell around the Christmas holiday. Only 0.5" snow fell, which ties for the 2nd lowest December total. A quick look back through the records since 1948 and this becomes the second warmest December ever, with only 1984 warmer (41.2 F). However, a record mean max temperature was set this month with a very mild average high of 50.2 F. Additional notes/records 1: Record high 72 F 14: Record high 64 F 18: Record high min temp 44 F 22: Record daily precipitation 1.15" fell. 23: Record high min temp 45 F December 2006 was the 2nd warmest December ever with a mean temperature of 40.7 F. The warmest was 1984 (41.2 F). However, December 2006 set a new record for an average maximum temperature of 50.2 F. 2006 was the WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD with a mean temperature of 54.5 F. The mean max was 64.6 F (4th) while the mean min was the warmest ever 44.9 F.