MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD JUNE 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 76 58 Partly cloudy, gusty SW winds (25 mph gusts) 2 75 51 Mostly sunny, passing clouds, pleasant 3 74 52 .29 Partly cloudy, becoming overcast with late afternoon shower 4 72 63 .95 T Occasional rain and thunderstorms, heavy storm 1:30-2pm 5 81 63 .03 Early light rain, becoming partly cloudy and warmer 6 88 67 Partly cloudy and breezy 7 91 67 Sunny, hot 8 92 73 Sunny, hot, breezy 9 92 73 Sunny, hot, breezy 10 90 69 T T Sunny becoming cloudy. Gusty thunderstorms pass just W & N. 11 82 62 Sunny, pleasant day with blue skies and passing clouds 12 85 60 Partly cloudy 13 85 63 .06 T More humid, brief PM shower. Very strong storms W of station. 14 80 68 .53 T Overcast, humid, periods of rain with occasional thunder 15 80 63 Partly cloudy 16 78 58 .26 T Partly cloudy, overcast late with evening t-storm 17 62 55 .04 Overcast, cool with passing brief showers 18 68 52 Mostly cloudy with partial PM clearing 19 69 52 Mostly cloudy AM with PM clearing 20 78 62 .06 T Partly cloudy, brief PM t-storm 21 81 56 .51 T Partly cloudy, evening t-storm w/ intense close lightning 22 81 58 .07 F Overnight shower, AM fog becoming mostly sunny 23 81 58 .05 T Partly cloudy, brief evening t-storm 24 76 54 Partly cloudy, breezy 25 78 58 Partly sunny 26 88 63 T Mostly cloudy, AM sprinkles 27 83 63 .15 Mostly cloudy, PM shower 28 87 66 .08 Breezy, partly cloudy, passing showers 29 82 63 .47 Cloudy with periods of rain 30 75 59 T Partly cloudy, t-storms passing N, S & W of station AVG/SUM 80.3 61.0 3.55 0.0 - EXT 92 51 0.95 - - Date 9* 2 4 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 70.7 F Year precipitation to date: 24.25" Season snowfall to date: 22.0" (final total for 2007-2008 season) Number of days with: Fog 1 Thunder 9 SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 3: Late afternoon brief heavy shower dropping .29" in 15 minutes. 4: 0.95" of rainfall sets new daily record. Most of this rain fell during an intense thunderstorm from 1:30-2pm. This same line of storms became very severe to our east over the central part of the state and Cheasapeake Bay area where widespread winds, large hail, funnel clouds and several confirmed tornadoes were reported. 7-10: Four consecutive days 90 or above, unusual for this early in the month of June. Monthly max temperature of 92 was set on the 8th and 9th. Both days also had a record high min temperature of 73 F. Late on the 10th, severe storms clipped the NW part of the county, barely missing this station and only producing some strong outflow wind gusts and a few large drops of rain. Wind was clocked at 65 MPH at Frostburg State University and a lot of wind damage was reported just NW of this station in the Frostburg - Mount Savage area. 13: Very heavy and stationary thunderstorms just to the W of this station this afternoon. Only 0.06" of rain fell here but nearby Frostburg reported 1.98" with an unofficial total of 2.33" recorded at Beall Elementary School. June 13 has had heavy rain and/or severe storms in the area in 5 of the past 8 years (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 & 2008). 14: Steady rain with imbedded thunderstorms. 0.53" of rainfall but not a record (0.91" in 2002). 16: A strong cold front passed through with evening thunderstorms. Storms were severe to the W & N but weakened as they crossed the mountains. Still some strong wind gusts were observed. 17-19: Three consecutive days fail to climb out of the 60s. Unusually cool high of 62 F on the 17th. 21: An intense late evening thunderstorm produced intense frequent lightning and 0.51" of rainfall, a new daily record. 22: Thunderstorms in the area were severe about 10 miles SE of this station where half-dollar sized hail was reported in the Spring Gap area along the C&O Canal and Potomac River. 27-29: Unsettled period with a few passing showers, most of them on the 29th, which had its second highest total of 0.47" (record was 0.50" in 1995). On the 28th, severe thunderstorms caused wind damage just south of this station in the Barton - Creasaptown - Bowling Green areas. 30: Strong storms just N & W of station fell apart as they crossed the mountains. MONTHLY SUMMARY June was relatively typical overall, with near normal temperatures and precipitation. After a somewhat cool start, the summer heat really kicked in, with 4 consecutive days in the 90s from the 7th-10th and two days with nighttime lows in the 70s, 73 on the 8th and 9th. However, the balance of the month saw near to below normal temperatures, with a cool period and the aforementioned 3 days in a row in the 60s (17th-19th). The relative coolness of the second half virtually offset the warmth of the first half. It was of course unusual, but not unheard of, to have the hottest temperatures early in the month of June. I did note that June's average temperature of 70.7 was 0.1 degree higher than 2007, and at my Westmont station, June's average of 65.5 was also 0.1 degree higher than 2007. The precipitation pattern was typical of early summer, with scattered thunderstorms accounting for most of the month's rainfall, which totaled 3.55", near but slightly below the 17-year average of 3.87 inches. Of course, if this station had a 7am observation time like most COOP stations, the 1.02" of rain that fell on May 31st would have carried over to June 1 and yielded a monthly total of 4.57", which would have been well above average. Obviously, differences in observation times make comparison of monthly precipitation totals between stations difficult when a heavy rain event occurs on the final day of a month. Anyway, June 2008 was much like June 2007, with quite a few localized severe thunderstorms hammering parts of the county but also like June 2007, this station dodged the bullet on the worst of the storms. There were several notable thunderstorms in the area - on the 4th when a vicious squall line moved through the state producing one of the most widespread severe weather outbreaks in recent Maryland history, on the 10th when near hurricane-force winds whipped through the NW portion of the county, the 13th when stationary storm cells dropped 2+ inches of rain on the Frostburg area, on the 16th when storms produced locally strong wind gusts, late on the 21st when a storm hit LaVale with severe lightning and heavy rain, the 22nd when storms dropped large hail just SE of Cumberland and the 28th when more severe storms caused wind damage just south of this station. The last 3 Junes have certainly produced quite their share of severe weather in the county and state. Additional notes/records 4: Daily record rainfall of 0.95". However this record was immediately broken in 2009 (1.17"). 6: Daily record high min 67 F 8: Daily record high min 73 F 9: Daily record high min 73 F 10: Daily record high min 69 F June 2008 had the 2nd highest mean minimum temperature on record, 61.0 F.