June 1998 LaVale MD Weather Summary Observer Nate Mullins Special Observations: F=fog T=thunder H=hail DW=damaging wind S=sleet G=glaze Temperature, F Precip Date Max Min Liquid Solid Special Obs 1 73 60 .80 F,T 2 84 47 1.59 T(hail) F,T,H,DW,Funnel clouds/tornadoes! 3 72 57 .03 F 4 72 49 5 64 46 .05 F 6 65 49 7 63 42 .04 8 71 43 9 69 41 .22 F 10 60 52 .48 F,T 11 69 56 .28 F 12 86 63 .22 F 13 73 60 .22 T 14 80 57 15 68 55 .50 T 16 86 59 .19 T,DW 17 86 56 T 18 87 56 19 74 59 .35 T 20 94 66 .01 21 93 66 22 89 65 T T 23 91 68 T T 24 93 69 25 95 70 26 91 72 .07 T 27 94 69 .08 T 28 70 64 .14 F,T 29 87 62 .02 30 76 64 .48 T 31 Tot 79.2 58.1 5.77 T(hail) Ext 95 41 1.59 T(hail) Date 25 9 2 2 Mean Monthly Temp 68.6 F Thunder days 13 Fog days 9 Damaging wind days 2 Hail days 1 Significant Events 1: Strong thunderstorm with torrential rain & frequent lightning ended just after midnight .75" fell in less than 15 minutes 11:50pm-12:05am. More showers through 4am another .80" fell, storm total 1.42". Became sunny and pleasant today. Damaging winds were reported from last night's thunderstorm in the southern portion of LaVale, by the Police Barracks, and also in Flintstone to the east. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL THREE CONFIRMED TORNADOES! F4 TORNADO HITS FROSTBURG!!! 2: A partly sunny, warm & pleasant day. Heavy clouds and constant thunder to N & NW from 6-8pm. TORNADO warnings went into effect. SEVERE thunderstorm hit about 8pm with large pounding hail up to quarter-size diameter, a heavy downpour .64" in 20 minutes and strong gusty winds on the back side of the storm as the sky turned an eerie blackish green. A large funnel cloud was observed over the south end of Haystack Mountain near LaVale. The funnel touched down twice in the county near Frostburg and Cumberland and was rated F1 and F0. More severe storms brushed by about 9pm passing mostly to the N & E of this station. Very severe storm 9:45 to 10:30pm with half-inch hail, torrential rain, wicked frequent lightning with constant crashing thunder briefly knocking out the power several times and strong damaging wind gusts. Another .89" fell in 45 minutes and a total of 1.59" fell. This storms produced a CONFIRMED F4 TORNADO that ravaged the northern parts of Frostburg. The twister crossed I-68 and Route 40 flattening everything in its path which was several hundred yards wide. It was rated F4 with winds estimated at 210 mph making it the strongest tornado in MD to date! Debris from the Frostburg area was found over 100 miles away in northern VA! Very thankfully nobody was killed. 9: A cool overnight low of 41F. Light rain this afternoon and evening with some fog .22" rain fell. 10: Overnight thundershowers produced another .43" rain. Periods of light rain and drizzle total .48" rain 13: Mild thunderstorm overnight another .22" rain fell. 15: Afternoon thunderstorm about 2pm followed by light showers through the evening .50" fell. 16: Few overnight showers .09" fell. Squall line moved through about 5:30pm with very strong winds 50+ mph and brief torrential rains. Wind damage reported throughout the area. Spectacular rainbow followed the storm. Only .19" fell here. 19: Overnight thunderstorms. Not much rain but some rather explosive lightning & thunder at times. Showers continued through 2pm mainly light. Total .35" rain fell. 28: Few showers overnight and fog. Thunderstorm with some close lightning 11pm-midnight but not much rain. 30: Thunderstorm overnight about 5am .31" fell. Variable clouds and some drizzle during the day. Brief thunderstorm with strong gusty winds around 6pm. Tornadoes reported to the north in PA. Summary: June began with quite a bang in the area. Right after Salisbury PA got hammered by an F3 tornado, the Frostburg area was ravaged by an F4 on June 2, the strongest tornado in MD to date. Large hail and heavy rain fell at this station. Thunderstorms were quite numerous throughout the month. Precipitation was well above normal. Every month in 1998 has seen above normal precip so far. Temperatures were on the cool side the first half of the month, then summer returned at earnest with temperatures reaching the mid 90s. Additional notes/records: 2nd: Daily record precipitation 1.59" fell along with nearly an inch accumulation of hail. This is the 2nd time within a month that hail has significantly accumulated. Also the strongest Tornado ever hit Frostburg this evening, an F4 with winds of 210 mph! 7: Record low max temperature 63 F 10: Record low max temperature 60 F 23: Record high min temperature 68 F 24: Record high 93 F. Also another record high min temperature of 69 F was set this morning 25: Another record high 95 F June had 13 days with thunder which is the most in one month I've observed since I began keeping my own records in 1992. July 1992 was a close second with 12 and later August 2003 also had 12 days with thunder. The first half of 1998 is the wettest first half of any year ever with 33.07". All six months January through June had well above normal precipitation. Wow!