MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD MARCH 2010 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 38 31 9 Mostly cloudy 2 36 32 8 Mostly cloudy 3 38 32 .01 0.3 7 Light pre-dawn snow, mostly cloudy 4 41 29 7 Partly cloudy - N winds to 25 mph 5 45 27 6 Mostly sunny, breezy 6 49 23 5 Mostly sunny 7 56 26 4 Mostly sunny 8 56 26 2 Mostly sunny 9 62 29 T Fair, mild 10 61 37 T Partly to mostly cloudy 11 67 37 0 Partly cloudy 12 52 48 .75 F Rain, especially during the morning, E winds 13 48 43 1.14 F Rain, heavy at times, flooding in area, foggy 14 48 41 .19 F Intermittent rain showers, drizzle and fog 15 44 41 .06 Drizzle, few light rain showers 16 62 41 Mostly cloudy early then sunny, milder 17 67 34 Sunny, pleasant 18 68 34 Sunny, pleasant 19 70 35 Sunny, mild, pleasant 20 72 37 Mostly sunny, mild 21 73 43 Sunny, breezy, mild, becoming partly cloudy 22 68 50 1.10 F,T AM rain, mostly cloudy, strong PM thunderstorm 23 50 41 .13 F Windy, cooler, rain showers 24 62 44 Mostly sunny, diminishing winds 25 68 39 .14 Mostly cloudy, breezy, PM light rain 26 52 39 .05 Light rain overnight, breezy, cooler 27 52 27 Chilly AM, partly cloudy, NE breezes 28 48 37 .84 F Partly to mostly cloudy, PM rain heavy at times 29 61 41 .03 F Mostly cloudy, brief PM shower 30 56 37 Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy 31 70 43 Partly cloudy, windy, milder AVG/SUM 56.1 36.3 4.44 0.3 1.5 <--mean EXT 73 23 1.14 0.3 9 Date 21 6 13 3 1 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 46.2 °F (+5.5 °F) Year precipitation to date: 10.77" (+1.42") Monthly precipitation departure: 4.44" vs. 3.83" = (+0.61") Season snowfall to date: 78.3" (+38.4") Number of days with: Fog 7 Thunder 1 NOTES/SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 3: Light snow overnight 0.3" fell. 9-11: Mild with highs in the 60s each day. Snow pack has dwindled to higher elevations and north-facing slopes. 12: Daily record rainfall of 0.75" with more rain on the way. Most of the rain fell this morning. 13: Rain heavy at times another 1.14" fell. A peak flood level of 10.85' was reached at 3:30pm at the Wills Creek gauge, and there was a lot of river flooding on the Potomac due to this combo of heavy rains, recent warmth and a recent meltdown of a very large snow pack. Storm rain total from the 12th-15th was 2.14". 16-21: Fair weather period with mild daytime highs. 22: Some rain this morning. A surprise thunderstorm this evening around sunset moved in from the SSE with heavy downpours. This storm prompted severe storm and flash flood warnings in the area. We were on the western edge of the storm with areas to the east and north hardest hit with nearly 1.5" of rain in an hour in Cumberland. 23: Variable clouds with occasional showers. Storm total 1.23". Winds reversed from SE to NW, gusting to 30 mph. 25-26: Light rain overnight .19" 28: PM rain heavy at times .84" fell. High only 48 F. 31: Warming trend continues with a high of 70 F. MONTHLY SUMMARY The big story of March 2010 was the substantial reversal in the temperature pattern. After a winter that brought record snows and persistent cold, with persistently below normal temps, our mean temperature this month was 46.2 F, (5.5 F above normal), warm enough to beat out March 1990 for 4th warmest March on record (since 1948). The mean min temperature was 36.3 F, 2nd warmest on record. The warmest March was 1973 with a mean temperature of 47.2 F. Despite the persistent warmth, there was a notable lack of extreme temperatures, as has been the case for the past several months. The early part of the month had the coolest readings, with all of the first 9 days reaching below freezing. After the 9th, only one morning (27th, 27 F) was sub-freezing. This is quite unusual for March. The month's low of 23 on the 6th was one of the warmest extreme mins for March. On the flip side, the month's extreme high of 73 (21st) was rather modest. There were 14 days in the 60s or 70s, definitely warm for March. March began wintry, with seasonably cold temperatures, and the month's only light snow of 0.3" fell on the 3rd. However, the rapid warm-up a week later quickly erased the snow in the valleys, with a massive meltdown of a record or near-record snow pack at high elevations. Combined with a slow-moving low pressure system moving northbound through the Mid-Atlantic states from the 12th-15th that dropped heavy rains, over 2 inches in most areas (2.14" here), with locally around 4 inches, with a storm total of 3.62" nearby in Frostburg. The heavy rains combined with recent snow melt to produce signficant, but not catastrophic, flooding to the area, especially river flooding. All and all, we escaped the disaster that struck on Jan. 19, 1996, as that snow pack, while comparable to the early March 2010 snow pack, melted in a much shorter time, and more rain (2.17") fell in 6 hours that morning than what fell (2.14") in 4 days from this event. After a week of fair, mild weather, three more systems affected the area within a week - 22nd-23rd, 25th-26th and 28th-29th. A localized cluster of spring-like strong thunderstorms dumped over an inch of rain in an hour in the Cumberland area on the evening of the 22nd, prompting severe storm and flood warnings, though there were no major severe weather reports. Light rains fell overnight on the 25th-26th, and a band of heavy rain passed through on the afternoon of the 28th, dropping nearly an inch of rain and pushing our monthly precipitation above normal, to 4.44", 0.61" above the 62-year mean of 3.83". In summary, March was somewhat wet, nearly snow-less, and very mild. Additional notes/records 12: Daily record rainfall 0.75" 13: Water level of 10.85' at Wills Creek highest since Mar. 29, 2005 (11.41") and 10th highest ever since 1906. March 2010 was the 4th warmest March on record with a mean temperature of 46.2 F. March's mean minimum temperature of 36.3 F ranked 2nd warmest, since records began in 1948.