MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS LAVALE MD JULY 2004 OBSERVER NATE MULLINS Observations for this month taken by Steve and Sara 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 82 55 2 87 56 3 84 62 F 4 84 66 .45 F,T 5 86 66 .01 F 6 86 67 7 84 64 .07 F,T 8 82 62 F 9 82 62 10 80 58 T 11 86 64 .03 T 12 82 70 .83 F,T 13 88 67 F 14 83 69 T F 15 76 63 T 16 83 63 17 79 56 T 18 79 62 .44 T 19 78 61 .01 F 20 83 59 21 85 60 F 22 85 64 .51 F 23 85 68 T F 24 85 60 25 70 55 T 26 68 65 1.27 27 71 67 .33 F 28 75 60 F 29 80 57 30 84 67 3.10 F,T 31 81 68 .74 F,T AVG/SUM 81.4 62.7 7.79 0.0 - EXT 88 55 3.10 - - Date 13 25* 30 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 72.0 F Year precipitation to date: 30.48" Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog: 16 Ice Pellets: 0 Glaze: 0 Thunder: 7 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 0 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: 1: A cooler overnight low of 55 F. Mostly to partly sunny and humid during the day. 4: AM fog. Showers 7am and 1pm .08" rain total. Brief but heavy shower about 6pm with thunder to SE for nearly an hour as a storm dumped heavy rain on S Cumberland. Another brief storm about 8pm brought the total to .45" for the day. Very heavy rains fell just south & east of this station with 2-4 inches falling in the SE portion of the county. 5: Dense AM fog. Showers/storms to W dissipated as they crossed the mtns. Only .01" rain. 7: More AM fog. Variably cloudy warm and humid. Line of storms approached from the SW but did the usual routine of splitting in half with some of it going to the N & W and some passing to the S & E. Some thunder but little wind and only .07" rain. 11: Mostly cloudy with increasing humidity. Brief shower about 7:30pm .03" fell. Lightning and thunder 11pm-midnight but the storms narrowly missed to the W, N and NE. 12: Mild & muggy overnight with light fog. Rain 6-8am with thunder and a heavier downpour about 6:30am .32" fell. Variable clouds. Very brief storm about 2pm and a stronger storm about 3:15pm with .28" rain in 10 minutes, frequent lightning & wind gusts to 20 mph. Cleared afterwards but another storm 9:30-10:15pm brought the total to .83" today. 13: A mostly sunny, very warm & humid day. Some faint lightning to SE late this evening. 14: AM fog, then mostly sunny and breezy. Some heavy clouds & strong W breezes around 7pm but only a few sprinkles as storms fell apart when they crossed the mountains as usual. 15: Strong NW breezes and sprinkles overnight. Mostly cloudy breezy & a bit cooler today. 17: Sunny early morning but clouds increased and thickened through the day. Few sprinkles. 18: Light rain 2-5am only .06" fell. Variable clouds through the day. Thundershowers this evening 8:30-10pm with most of the rain falling just before 9pm. Total .44" fell today. 19: Rain ended overnight another .01" fell. Fog this morning. Partly sunny, mild day. 22: Overnight fog again. Increasing clouds and very hazy & humid. Some ominous skies this evening. Brief heavy downpour 6:30-7pm dropped .37" most of it falling in 10 minutes. Another shower 9-9:30pm brought the total to .51" for the day. Foggy again late. 23: AM fog, then partly cloudy, very warm & humid. Showers and thunderstorms built up all around this station in every direction but all that fell was some light drizzle. 25: Cool and cloudy all day with a few sprinkles and light drizzle this evening, trace. 26: A few showers overnight .16" fell by 7am. Light and steady rains through the morning and afternoon hours. Moderate to heavy rains this evening continuing through midnight. Total 1.27" rain fell today. Cool and steady temperatures in the upper 60s. 27: AM fog. Periods of light rain overnight and through the morning. Brief heavy shower about 2pm dropped about .25" in 10 minutes, total .33" fell. 29: A bit warmer with mostly sunny skies and light to moderate breezes, pleasant day. THUNDERSTORM CLOUDBURSTS RECORD RAINS AND FLASH FLOODING 30: Mostly cloudy through the morning, warm and humid. Train of intense thunderstorms with torrential downpours and frequent lightning moved into the area between 2-7pm. One storm after another with almost no let-up. A total of 3.10" of rain fell in this period. The heaviest storms occurred between about 2-4pm dumping about two inches most of it in only one hour. Streets turned into rivers, basements were flooded and streams overflowed their banks. As much as 5 inches of rain was reported in parts of LaVale. The 3.10" of rain is the heaviest in nearly four years and shatters the daily record for July which was 1.88" on July 24, 1992. 31: Light AM fog. Mostly cloudy again, warm and humid. Heavy downpours 12-12:30pm with rain through 2pm and one clap of thunder then scattered light showers through the early evening .74" rain fell. SUMMARY: This was the wettest July on record (since and including 1992) and the 5th wettest month overall with 7.79 inches of rain. 5.44 inches fell during the final week of the month. Thunderstorms dumped over three inches on the 30th causing flash flooding in the area. Temperatures were near-normal and were very consistent through the month with no extremely hot or cool temperatures. For only the 2nd time on my records, the thermometer failed to reach 90 degrees F in July. Frequent cloud cover kept daytime highs slightly below normal and nighttime lows slightly above normal. Fog occurred on 16 days and thunder on 7 days. Additional notes/records: 25: Record low max 70 F 26: Two records just missed. Max of 68 is 1 degree shy of record low in 2002. 1.27" of rain just misses record 1.31" on July 26, 1989 27: Record low max 71 F 30: Daily record rainfall of 3.10" not only smashes the 1998 record of 1.50" but sets a new daily record for the entire month of July. Previous record was 2.90" on 7/15/1954. July 2004 was the 2nd wettest July on record with 7.79 inches of rainfall. For only the 3rd time on record, there were no 90-degree days in July. However, the low was only 55. High of 88, low of 55, a 33-degree range is a record low range of monthly extremes.