MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD DECEMBER 2011 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 48 28 Sunny 2 50 25 Partly cloudy 3 46 26 Partly sunny 4 50 27 Partly cloudy 5 60 36 Partly to mostly cloudy, mild 6 56 50 .20 Mild, few rain showers 7 54 33 1.68 F Rain heavy at times 8 36 28 Partly cloudy, colder 9 43 22 Partly cloudy 10 36 32 Partly cloudy 11 35 17 Sunny, chilly 12 36 17 Sunny, chilly 13 47 20 Sunny, milder, becoming PC 14 46 35 T Mostly cloudy, few sprinkles 15 58 34 T Mostly cloudy, mild, sprinkles 16 55 33 Mostly cloudy 17 38 31 Mostly cloudy 18 38 26 Partly to mostly cloudy 19 53 22 Mostly sunny becoming mostly cloudy 20 48 44 T Mostly cloudy, sprinkles 21 52 42 .01 Brief AM shower, mostly cloudy 22 56 45 .25 Mostly cloudy, PM rain showers 23 47 37 .12 Mostly cloudy, AM rain showers 24 40 32 Partly sunny 25 50 23 Partly cloudy 26 45 32 Partly cloudy 27 43 32 .59 F Steady rain, fog 28 33 32 .05 0.3 AM showers turning to snow squalls 29 36 22 .01 0.2 1 Variable clouds, PM snow showers 30 36 26 .02 T Variable clouds, brief rain shower 31 46 30 .02 Mostly cloudy, brief rain shower AVG/SUM 45.7 30.3 2.95 0.5 0.03 avg EXT 60 17 1.68 0.3 1 Date 5 12* 7 28 29 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 38.0°F (+5.1°F) Year precipitation to date: 51.09" (+10.52" - final total for 2011) Season snowfall to date: 7.5" (-2.8") Number of days with: Fog 2 NOTES/SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 1-5: Warming trend with fair skies: 6-7: Rain showers 6th, steady rain 7th, heavy at times, storm total 1.88". No snow here though a few inches of wet snow fell at higher elevations. Daily record 1.68" precip on the 7th. 8-13: Fair & colder 21-23: Mild, rain showers, .38" total precip. 27: Steady rain & fog. 28-31: Variable clouds, brief rain or snow showers, little snow accumulation. 27-31: 0.69" precip. Additional notes/records: 6: Record high min 50 F. Old record 48 in 1998. 7: Daily record precipitation 1.68" breaks old record 1.20" in 1953. 20: Record high min 44 F. Old record 40 in 1957. 22: Record high min 45 F tied with 1956. *2011 was the 4th warmest year on record with a mean temperature of 53.7 F. *2011 had the highest mean min on record with a mean min of 44.7 F. *2011 was the 4th wettest year on record with 51.09" of precipitation. Here are the top 5 wettest years in LaVale since 1948: 1. 59.05" (1996) 2. 53.17" (1972) 3. 52.93" (2003) 4. 51.09" (2011) 5. 50.63" (1979) MONTHLY SUMMARY December followed the suit of November, which was near-normal precipitation, a lack of snowfall and much milder than average temperatures. It was a relatively quiet weather month, like November. Winter was virtually absent in December, which had no sub-freezing max temperatures, only 2 nights below 20 and a meager 0.5" snow. There was a lack of extremely cold or warm weather, as has been the case throughout much of 2011 - probably because of frequent cloud cover and precip events. Two-thirds of the month's precipitation fell in a heavy rain storm late on the 6th through the 7th, with 1.88" of total rainfall. Snow only fell at higher elevations above about 1,500 feet. After the system passed, two weeks slid by without any measurable precipitation. Then 8 of the final 11 days had precipitation, but most of it was light, with the month's only light snow 0.5" the 28th-29th.