MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD JANUARY 1996 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 DAY 24-hour Rain Snow/ Snow Special WEATHER Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Obs. SUMMARY 1 39 33 .03 F 2 37 32 .93 1.0 F 3 38 21 .14 T T 4 26 16 5 27 15 6 25 15 .12 1.5 Increasing clouds, snow developed mid-evening 7 16 12 1.61 23.5 7 Steady snow all day, becoming very heavy in evening, windy 8 24 12 .20 5.0 26 Snow overnight tapered off by daybreak, partly cloudy 9 32 12 T T 25 10 29 10 .02 0.5 26 11 20 3 26 12 22 13 .40 6.0 28 13 39 20 T T 32 14 54 21 30 15 54 27 26 16 40 23 T 22 17 43 31 .05 20 18 51 30 .18 18 F 19 50 9 2.17 T 6 F,DW Torrential AM rain, very windy, falling temps, MAJOR FLOODING!!! 20 27 9 2 21 30 12 2 22 41 11 2 23 38 23 .20 T 1 F,S 24 47 33 .88 T T F 25 34 22 .03 1.5 1 26 38 14 .23 0.7 1 S 27 45 25 .59 T T 28 35 20 .04 1.2 1 29 35 20 30 43 25 T T 31 27 18 .02 0.8 1 AVG/SUM 35.7 18.9 7.84 41.7 9.8 <<--Mean EXT 54 3 2.17 23.5 32 Date 15* 11 19 7 13 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 27.3 F Year precipitation to date: 7.84" Season snowfall to date: 63.5" Number of days with: Fog 5 Sleet 2 Damaging Winds 1 NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS 2: Steady rain, with a period of wet snow late morning and 1 inch of slushy accumulation before changing back to rain. 0.93" of precipitation for the day, 1.07" total (2nd-3rd) 6: Cold and becoming cloudy with light snow developing this evening 1.5" by midnight. 7: Light to moderate snow overnight with another 5.5" by 7am. Snow became quite heavy during the afternoon and especially evening hours, with rates of 1-2 inches an hour, and one hour between 10-11pm seeing nearly 5 inches! The combination of the extremely heavy snow and strong winds up to 30 mph created white-out blizzard conditions. An incredible 23.5" of snow fell by midnight, a new all-time daily record. A high of only 16 was recorded, a new daily low max. 8: More snow overnight, heavy at times early, tapering to flurries. Another 5" fell for a storm total of 30 inches - a record-smashing blizzard that paralyzed the entire east coast. Schools and businesses were shut down for an entire week. An incredible storm, one for the record books!!! 9-10: Light snow overnight (0.5"). 11: Very cold low 3 F. 12: Heavy snow this morning 6" fell, most of it in a 4-hour period. Snow depth reached a record 32 inches! 14-15: Much milder high 54 F both days 18: Mild high 51 F with steady drizzle. A lot of snow melted today, causing some flooding... 19: Drizzle and unusually warm temperatures overnight (near 50) created more snowmelt and flooding. Around 4am, heavy rain abruptly began falling. By 6am, ice-cold water began seeping into our basement and flooded the entire basement. By 7am, 1.40" of rain had already fallen. Heavy rain continued through 10am with 2.17" of rain falling in only 6 hours. This deluge melted nearly all of what snow was left on the ground, creating extreme widespread flooding everywhere. The end of Henry Drive was impassible with 1-2 feet or more of water covering the road. The entire valley along Wills Creek filled with raging flood waters and ravaged the Locust Grove area, destorying everything in its path. A strong cold front brought sharply colder temperatures, dropping to a frigid 9 F by midnight with snow flurries and damaging wind gusts up to 50 mph. Wind chills approached -30 F. All of the standing water left over from this massive flood froze, creating an icy mess. The water level at Wills Creek peaked at 23.11' which is an all-time record - even higher than the devastating flood of 1936. Flood protection created then saved the city of Cumberland from total devastation. This historical flood was by far the worst in recent history and caused over $7 million in damages to Allegany County alone, the costliest natural disaster ever and leading to the declaration of a Federal Disaster area. 23: Light rain began this evening mixed with a little sleet. 24: Steady rain overnight .88" fell. A bit of snow this evening. Some minor flooding in the area due to more snow melt. 25: Cold, windy & blustery with snow showers totaling 1.5" 26: Sleet accumulated 0.7" before changing to plain rain. 27: Rain continued overnight another .59" fell, storm total precip .82". 28: More snow showers totaling 1.2" 31: Cold & blustery with light snow overnight (0.8") MONTHLY SUMMARY 1996 got off to a wild start, with first a blizzard and then a flood, both of historical proportions. An incredible 30 inches of snow on the 6th-8th set a single-storm snow record. 23.5" on the 7th set a new all-time daily snowfall record. Another 6 inches of snow fell on the 12th. January 1996 was the snowiest month ever on record with a whopping 41.7 inches. It was also the wettest January and winter month ever, shattering the 1979 record with 7.84" of precipitation. The massive flood on the 19th was the worst flood ever, rivaling and in fact surpassing the historic flood levels of the 1936 St. Patrick's Day flood. The 2.17" of rain on the 19th set a new daily record for the entire month of January. Needless to say, this was a record-smashing month for snow, precipitation and flooding! Temperatures were cold, though not excessively so. Still, the frequent snows, strong winds and blustery weather made January 1996 a winter month for the ages.