MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD JULY 2008 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 70 59 Mostly cloudy, PM clearing 2 80 55 Sunny AM, partly cloudy PM 3 82 55 .05 Partly to mostly cloudy, light evening rain 4 69 67 .75 Cloudy, cool, steady temperatures, period of rain all day 5 81 67 .03 T Partly to mostly cloudy, heavy evening t-storm to W, light rain 6 80 68 Heavy overcast, light SE winds, very muggy 7 82 69 Mostly cloudy AM, partly sunny PM 8 88 67 .03 F AM fog becoming partly cloudy, brief PM shower 9 80 71 .08 Early rain shower, then partial clearing 10 80 65 F AM fog becoming partly cloudy 11 83 58 Partly cloudy 12 88 65 Partly cloudy, warm 13 83 73 .05 T Cloudy, humid, t-storms developed mostly to S & E. 14 80 67 Mostly sunny, less humid 15 85 58 Sunny, passing clouds, pleasant 16 88 58 Sunny, passing clouds, warm 17 91 63 Mostly sunny, hot, increasing humidity 18 93 67 F AM fog, mostly sunny, hot & humid 19 93 67 F AM fog, mostly sunmy, hot & humid 20 94 64 .18 F,T AM fog, mostly sunny, hot, humid, gusty evening t-storm 21 88 68 .41 F,T Dense AM fog, sunny, late evening strong t-storm 22 83 66 .15 T Early morning rain and thunder, then clearing 23 74 67 .60 T Occasional overnight t-storms, few showers, another PM t-storm 24 74 60 Mostly sunny, cooler, pleasant 25 83 59 Mostly sunny 26 85 63 Mostly sunny 27 83 67 Mostly sunny, more humid 28 83 61 Mostly sunny 29 87 67 Partly cloudy, hazy, warm, increasing humidity 30 84 65 .69 T Very humid, evening t-showers. Tornado warning for SW Allegany Co. 31 83 70 .27 Heavy shower 6-7am, then partly cloudy & humid AVG/SUM 83.1 64.4 3.29 0.0 - EXT 94 55 0.75 - - Date 20 3* 4 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 73.8 F Year precipitation to date: 27.54" Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog 6 Thunder 7 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 4: Fairly steady and moderate rain all day totaling 0.75" surpasses the record of 0.67" set in 2001. 5: Strong, slow-moving storm cell just to W early this evening but dissipated as it moved our way. Only 0.03" rain fell. 8-9: A couple brief showers during the evening/overnight hours ahead of a cold frontal passage. 13: A line of thunderstorms began developing overhead and built into strong and severe storms to our east. Only 0.05" rain at this station. 17: Hot high 91F. Began a four-day stretch of 90+ degree heat, the only four days of the month over 90. 18-19: Hot high 93 F, humid, heat indeces nearing 100. 20: Hazy, hot, humid, high 94 F. A cluster of severe thunderstorms moving ESE from Fayette/Somerset counties in PA produced widespread wind damage with some hail reports before clipping Garrett and Allegany Counties with more wind damage. Storms dissipated as they moved through, only 0.18" rain fell and winds only gusted to 20 mph at this station, but there were dozens of reports throughout the area of downed trees due to high wind gusts from these thunderstorms. 21: A repeat of last evening with another cluster of strong to severe thunderstorms moving ESE from the same area as last night. More of a direct hit on this station with 0.41" rain and wind gusts to 20 mph, but less widespread severe reports. Still some reports of trees down in Cumberland. 22: Morning complex of rain and thunderstorms dissipated as it moved through, nice rest of day. 23: Strong overnight thunderstorms developed in the area between 1-2pm and moved NE. Most of these storms built up just SE of this station. Occasional showers through the day before another line of storms developed, again most of it passing to the S & E. Although the 0.60" of rain is a daily record, we had far less rain than nearby stations such as Cumberland, where 1.58" fell today. 24-29: A period of fair weather with pleasant temperatures and humidity that increased on the 29th. 30: A very humid, muggy day. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved through the area from the NW around 7pm. At this station only heavy rain, some thunder and 20 mph wind gusts were observed. However, a tornado warning was issued for the SW part of the county from a severe cell that produced several funnel clouds in southwest PA and a possible tornado in nearby Garrett Co. MD in the Friendsville and Accident areas. Although no major damage was reported in Allegany Co., a funnel cloud was sighted again just south of Fort Ashby, WV to our South. On a side note, the 0.69" of rain today continued the trend of wet July 30th's. From 1992-2008, July 30 has statistically been the wettest day of the year with an average of 0.45" per July 30th. The record for July 30, which was also the record for entire month of July, was set in 2004, when a whopping 3.10" of rain fell from training thunderstorms. 31: A brief but heavy morning shower shortly prior to 7am. The heaviest of the rain was just to the north, where radar estimated 0.5 to 1 inches of rain. MONTHLY SUMMARY This was a fairly typical July, with slightly above normal temperatures and slightly below normal precipitation. Temperatures were relatively consistent throughout the month, which is not unusual for July. There weren't a lot of extremes. The lowest temperature was only 55, and the high 94, and while there were only 4 days that failed to reach 80 or above, there were also only 4 days in the 90s. 23 days were in the 80s. The four days in the 90s were all strung together from the 17th-20th, peaking at 94 on the 20th. As for precipitation, the Frostburg/LaVale area had slightly less rainfall than many surrounding stations, where precipitation was near or above normal. There were several storms that seemed to either dissipate when they crossed the Alleghany Front, or develop just to the east of this station such as in the Cumberland and Oldtown areas. The CoCoRAHS station in Cumberland reported a monthly total of 4.44" and the total at Oldtown's Weatherbug station was 5.26". The month was pretty dead for thunderstorms until the 20th. Although the month's heaviest rain day was on the 4th (0.75"), over two-thirds of the month's rain fell during the final third (20th-31st). Several MCS-type storm systems affected the area on the 20th-23rd and again on the 30th, when a tornadic storm cell moving SE clipped the SW portion of the county, fortunately with minimal damage. In fact, no official severe reports came from Allegany County, although nearby counties in MD, PA and WV reported funnel clouds, and there was an unconfirmed report of a tornado near Friendsville in Garrett County, an area that was also hit by a tornado on June 2, 1998, the same evening as the infamous F4 Frostburg Tornado. Additional notes/records 13: Record high min 73 F 31: Record high min 70 F