MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS JOHNSTOWN (WESTMONT) PA JANUARY 2005 OBSERVER STEVE 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 52 40 2 52 37 T 3 54 51 .80 F 4 54 40 .05 F 5 40 32 1.95 T F,G 6 43 30 1.34 0.2 F,G 7 34 25 .05 T F,G 8 44 29 .40 T F 9 38 29 T F,G 10 42 32 T F 11 41 31 .69 T S 12 59 42 .29 13 61 49 .41 F 14 50 17 .12 T F 15 26 14 16 22 14 .35 5.0 17 14 3 .04 1.1 6 18 8 0 .03 0.9 6 19 24 8 .22 3.0 6 F 20 22 16 .03 1.0 8 21 14 3 8 22 21 6 .44 6.0 8 S 23 9 1 .03 0.9 11 24 14 0 T 0.5 11 25 30 14 T 0.3 11 F 26 43 13 T 0.2 10 F 27 13 4 8 28 21 0 8 29 28 13 .07 0.9 8 30 33 24 .02 0.8 8 31 32 14 7 F AVG/SUM 33.5 20.4 7.33 20.8 - EXT 61 0 1.95 6.0 11 Date 13 28* 5 22 25* *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 26.9 F Year precipitation to date: 7.13" Season snowfall to date: 32.0" Number of days with: Fog: 14 Ice Pellets: 2 Glaze: 4 Thunder: 0 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 0 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: 1: Mild start to the New Year with a high of 52 F. West winds gusting 30-35 mph. 2: Mild again. Mostly cloudy with a few sprinkles. 3: Light overnight rain .07" by 7am. Steady moderate rain through the day with patchy dense fog. Mild and steady temperatures in the low-mid 50s. Strong SW to W winds began this evening sustained 20-30 mph gusting over 35 mph. Total .80" rain fell. 4: Persistent drizzle and dense fog. Temperatures fell slowly through the day. HEAVY RAIN AND ICE STORM 5: Steady moderate rain began around midnight and continued all day heavy at times. Temperatures continued to fall slowly through the day to 32 F with some freezing rain/glaze beginning to mix in by midnight. A total of 1.95" rain fell today. 6: Rain and freezing rain overnight with a light glaze (< 1/4") on everything. Moderate steady rain tapered to showers before ending this afternoon. Another 1.34" fell today for a two-day total of 3.29". 7: Overnight freezing drizzle and fog. Periods of light freezing rain in PM. WSW winds 10-20 mph gusting to 25-30 mph. 8: Periods of rain overnight and milder. Brief heavy rain and wind around 7am .40" fell by 9am. Variable WSW winds became gusty from WNW up to 30-40 mph this afternoon. Scattered late PM snow showers, trace. 9: Light freezing drizzle overnight, trace. Mix of clouds & sun with a high of 38 F. 10: Strong W winds overnight gusting 30-40 mph. Mostly cloudy, PM fog/mist/gusty winds. 11: A mix of rain & sleet began about 8:30am. Fog and moderate rain during the afternoon, tapering to light rain again late .69" fell by midnight. 12: Light rain overnight. Occasional light rain or showers during the day with SW winds gusting to 25 mph. 13: MUCH warmer with a high of 61 F and a very mild low of 49 F. Mostly cloudy with SW winds 15-25 mph gusting to 35 mph. Moderate rain, fog and gusty winds 8pm-midnight .41" fell by then... STRONG COLD FRONT 14: Light rain and fog overnight and gusty SW winds continuing shifting to NW with gusts to 30 mph. Precip changed to light snow by 4am and continued on and off through the day with fog and rapidly falling temperatures. Temps dropped to 17 F by midnight. 15: A cold but clear/sunny day. First day in 2 weeks without at least a trace of precip. SNOW/BITTER COLD 16: Cold and cloudy. Light steady snow 10am-4pm 1.5" fell by then. Heavier snow through the evening hours with NW winds gusting 25-30 mph at times. 5.0" snow fell by midnight with some blowing and drifting. 17: Light snow overnight and light snow showers through the day another 1.0" fell. Quite cold with a high of only 14 F falling to 3 F by late evening. Strong WNW winds gusted 30+ mph at times with wind chills -10 to -20 F. 18: Bitter cold low of 0 F this morning. Intermittent light snow through the AM hours another 0.8" fell with some PM sunshine but increasing clouds again late. Remained very cold all day high only 8 F. Gusty NNW winds to 30 mph and below zero wind chill. 19: Cold with light to moderate snow through the day. Gusty SW winds to 30 mph causing blowing and drifting snow. A total of 3.0" of powdery snow fell. 20: Light snow through the day with calmer winds another 1.0" fell. 21: Clear and cold low 3 F this morning. Light NW winds. 22: Light AM snow became moderate then heavy by noon. Some light sleet began to mix in. Snow tapered off during the PM hours with gusty winds shifting from SE to W to NW. A total of 6.0" fell today with blowing and drifting. Cold low 6 F by midnight. 23: Light AM snow about another inch fell. Clouds diminished by noon. Very cold and blustery with a low of 1 F and a high of only 9 F and wind chills -20 to -30 F. More blowing and drifting snow. 24: Light snow and flurries 0.5" fell. Very cold low of 0 F and continued gusty WNW winds to 25 mph. 25: Some light snow and flurries overnight. Slight warming trend today high 30 F. 26: Cloudy and milder high 43 F. Gusty W/NW winds 25+ mph. Some freezing fog during the PM hours. 27: Clear and cold. Low 4 F and a high of only 13 F despite nearly 100% sun. 28: Clear and cold overnight low 0 F. Sunny and a little milder still cold high 21 F. 29: Partly cloudy early then overcast. Light snow 6pm-midnight just short of 1" fell. 30: Mostly cloudy AM. Snow 9-10:30am close to another inch fell. Skies cleared during the afternoon. 31: Some AM valley fog then sunny with scattered high clouds. SUMMARY: January brought two distinct weather patterns. The first half of the month was spring- like with unusually mild temperatures and copious amounts of rainfall. Over six inches fell in the first 14 days and 3.29" fell from a heavy rain and ice storm on the 5th-6th. The second half of January was quite cold with maximum temperatures below freezing 15 of the final 17 days. It was also much drier but snowy with over 20" falling from the 16th to the 30th. A total of 7.13" of precipitation was recorded during the month.