MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA MARCH 2009 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 24-hour At Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Obs Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 34 16 16 2 16 10 10 T 0.1 3 19 2 14 .04 0.8 1 4 32 9 20 T 5 49 20 48 6 60 48 52 7 67 52 62 8 62 53 53 .16 F 9 53 31 31 .10 10 42 27 42 .02 11 57 29 29 12 29 24 25 T T T 13 41 19 34 14 44 28 37 T 15 52 33 41 T 16 44 40 40 .07 17 58 39 44 .01 F 18 67 36 42 19 42 34 34 .02 20 34 24 29 T T T 21 43 22 29 22 50 29 29 23 43 22 28 24 43 19 35 25 39 31 34 .08 F 26 48 34 36 .83 F 27 52 35 44 .17 F 28 49 44 48 .03 29 48 32 32 .13 T 30 38 28 28 .03 0.3 T DW 31 57 24 48 AVG/SUM 45.5 28.8 35.4 1.69 1.2 0.03 <--Mean EXT 67 2 - 0.83 0.8 1 Date 18* 3 - 26 3 3 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 37.2 F Year precipitation to date: 9.95" (-1.16") Season snowfall to date: 91.8" Number of days with: Fog 5 Damaging Winds 1 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES 1: Partly cloudy skies becoming overcast and breezy w/ falling temperatures 2: Very cold and blustery all day with NW to N winds gusting to 30 mph and very light snow this morning, just a light coating (0.1"). Mostly cloudy skies. 3: Overnight light snow (0.8"). Very cold low 2 F this morning. Became mostly sunny but continued cold & blustery with a high of only 19 and N winds gusting to 25 mph. 4: Cold again this morning low 9 F but a bit milder today 32 F with 100% sun and light winds 5: Mostly sunny AM, increasing PM clouds, milder with light winds from S/W. 6: Mild with variably cloudy skies and breezy conditions 7: Mostly cloudy skies with strong W to SW breezes and a mild high of 67 F. Heavy rain passed just north of this station this morning. 8: Clear, warm and very windy overnight with a very mild low of 62 F. SW winds gusting 40+ mph. Became cloudy with light rain and drizzle. For the second consecutive day, the heavy rain line was just to our north. Fog developed late this evening, still mild. 9: Mostly cloudy and continued very windy with winds shifting to W & NW and still gusting around 40 mph. A couple of brief heavy showers early this morning. Temperatures fell steadily through the day. 10: Mostly cloudy, light showers through early PM, light winds 11: Mild high 57 F with partly cloudy skies and strong W winds gusting to 35 mph with falling temperatures this afternoon & evening 12: Gusty NW winds overnight with a few snow flurries early this morning, no accumulation. Much colder high only 29 F with variable cloudiness. 13: Mostly sunny with light N to W winds 14: Sunny but hazy this morning with increasing afternoon cloudiness and late sprinkles 15: Mostly cloudy, somewhat mild, little wind and again a few evening sprinkles 16: Overcast with a few brief showers and near calm winds 17: Drizzle and fog overnight. Decreasing clouds by late morning then sunny skies 18: Some frost on elevated surfaces this morning. Sunny skies with increasing SW winds gusting up to 25 mph and became mild this afternoon high 67 F. 19: Falling temperatures overnight with a couple light showers. Partly cloudy through the day with NW breezes and slowly falling temps 20: Partly cloudy with a few light intermittent snow showers (no accumulation) this morning. Decreasing clouds late this afternoon w/ light NW winds. 21: Clear and frosty this morning then increasing clouds with light/variable winds 22: Varying amounts of clouds with breezy conditions, SW winds shifted to NW 23: Clear and sunny all day w/ light to occasionally moderate NW breezes 24: Cold this morning, mostly sunny w/ S/SE breezes and increasing clouds by early evening 25: Mostly cloudy and nearly calm with occasional light rain, fog & drizzle in the PM hours 26: Temperatures slowly rising overnight. Steady rain all day and moderate much of the time. A total of .83" fell first good rain in a very long time. Dense fog much of day. 27: Dense fog and drizzle overnight. Variably to mostly cloudy skies with light rains resuming at 7:30pm. Calm winds. 28: Light rain ended overnight. Overcast with steady temperatures and near calm winds. 29: Mild & overcast overnight. Only .04" of rain despite a prediction for a nearly 100% chance of heavy rain and possible thunderstorms. The storm headed our way from the SSW and did a massive split with nearly all of it either passing to the S/SE or W/NW. Still a few occasional showers and falling temps with a change to snow showers late. Strong S breezes shifting to the W and gusting to 30 mph by evening. 30: Very windy overnight 25-40 mph W winds with gusts over 45. Some scattered minor tree damage. Snow showers overnight 0.3" accumulation by morning. Skies cleared during the day w/ diminishing winds. 31: Clear w/ heavy frost this morning. Sunny & mild w/ light SW winds. Became mostly cloudy during the evening hours. MONTHLY SUMMARY March was a very quiet month with near normal temperatures but exceptionally below normal precipitation (only 1.69" total, 2.16" below the normal of 3.87"). Even more surprising than the low precipitation total was the extreme lack of snowfall. Normally this area sees around 20 inches of snowfall in March. A meager 1.2" of snow fell all month! More snow fell in the southern & eastern part of the state from a Northeaster moving up the east coast on the 1st-2nd than did here all month. The usual lake-effect snows were also conspicuously absent as well. Very, very atypical for March! The month began quite cold, with a chilly high of only 14 on the 2nd and low of only 2 F on the 3rd. However, within a few days, temperatures quickly rebounded well into the 60s on the 6th, 7th and 8th, with lows in the 50s on the 7th (52) and 8th (53). After these unseasonably warm readings, temperatures were relatively typical for March the rest of the month, with relatively dry fronts causing some substantial fluctuations. The 18th matched the 7th for the warmest day of the month with a high of 67 F (after a cool, frosty morning). Most of the month's precipitation fell late in the month, about half of it (0.83") on the 26th. The month ended on a mild, quiet note, after some damaging winds and snow showers early on the 30th.