MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS LAVALE MD MAY 2004 OBSERVER NATE MULLINS Observations for this month taken by Steve and Sara 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 Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 80 55 .02 2 78 49 .41 3 58 40 4 60 35 5 70 38 .02 6 75 41 7 82 55 .50 T 8 68 48 .01 9 83 49 F 10 83 52 11 80 54 12 85 60 .01 T 13 85 57 14 84 60 .02 F 15 82 60 T 16 75 58 17 80 55 18 72 60 1.24 T 19 67 58 .04 20 66 59 .04 F 21 80 59 .83 T 22 85 58 .01 F 23 88 62 24 86 64 .01 T 25 86 56 .02 26 75 62 .56 T 27 82 62 .07 T 28 79 50 .03 29 69 48 30 74 50 T 31 74 58 .47 AVG/SUM 77.1 53.9 4.31 0.0 - EXT 88 35 1.24 - - Date 23 4 18 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 65.5 F Year precipitation to date: 19.48" Season snowfall to date: 60.5" Number of days with: Fog: 4 Ice Pellets: 0 Glaze: 0 Thunder: 8 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 0 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: 1: A warm 80-degree high with sunshine turning to cloudiness by evening. Light showers 10pm-midnight .02" fell. 2: Partly sunny skies during the morning. Cold front came through about 3pm with a brief burst of heavy rain followed by light-moderate rain showers through 8:15pm .41" rain fell. Breezy with SW winds gusting to 25 mph. 4: A chilly overnight low of 35 F with clear skies all day. 7: Cloudy early then clearing before heavy clouds rolled in by mid-afternoon. Warm. Thunderstorm between 5:15-6:15 pm with some heavy rain .50" fell. Skies cleared by late evening. 9: Heavy AM fog. Became partly to mostly sunny with a warm high 83 F. 12: Light shower overnight .01" fell. Clear AM skies but a bank of angry clouds with thunder built up just to the W & SW about 1pm and severe storm warnings went into effect. A wall of torrential rain was seen & heard just a few hundred feet up Piney Mountain to the west, but only a few sprinkles fell as the storm barely missed this station. Temps dropped from 85 to 75 F from the outflow. Skies remained black to the west but clear to the east for over an hour. More thunder 6-8pm with storms all around us in every direction but once again only a few sprinkles of rain. 13: Very warm high 85 F. Dramatic clouds this evening from storms to the SSW but no rain here. 14: AM fog. Very warm high 84 F. Heavy clouds to W & SW with a brief shower about 12:30pm .02" rain. 15: Increasing clouds, breezy & warm. Heavy clouds again by 5:30pm with thunder by 6pm but storms broke up and went ALL AROUND once again literally in a 360 degree circle around LaVale with blue skies overhead. Areas to the S & E were hit especially hard by heavy rains & severe storms. Not a drop of rain fell at this station. 18: Moderate rain 8-10:30am. Became partly cloudy during the afternoon but a strong storm 6-6:30 pm with torrential downpours, intense lightning & gusty winds about .50" fell in 15 minutes. Lightning knocked out the power briefly and some wind damage was reported in the area though not at this station. More rain and storms 9pm-midnight total 1.24" rain today. 20: Early AM fog with strong gusty winds suddenly moving in around 7am. Heavy clouds but only .04" rain. 21: Line of severe storms pretty well broke up this morning as it crossed the mountains, mostly light rain fell. Much stronger storm this evening 8-9pm with heavy downpours and gusty winds. Steady rains continued through midnight .83" fell. Again parts of the county reported wind damage with trees and power lines blown down. 23: Hot high 88 F with varying amounts of clouds. 24: Another very warm humid day. Thunderstorm passed just to the south about 4:30pm just .01" rain here and gusty WSW winds 20-30 mph. 25: Again very warm & humid. Heavy clouds and strong afternoon storms to the W, N and E but as usual split and missed this station with just a brief shower producing .02" rain. Storms were very severe to the east where damaging winds, large hail and even several tornadoes were reported. 26: Surprise storm hit about 3am with frequent and close lightning strikes and a heavy downpour .55" in about 15 minutes. Mostly cloudy all day with some threatening skies but only .01" more rain fell for a total of .56". 27: Variably cloudy & warm. Brief thundershower about 8pm .07" rain. Lightning & thunder throughout the evening to the S & E but no more rain fell. 29: A bit cooler low 48 F and high only 69 F but a mostly sunny day with brilliant blue skies. 31: Light rain 7:50-10am .13" fell. Drizzle through noon and occasional brief showers through the afternoon. Heaviest between 5:15-5:45pm about .20" more fell in 30 minutes. Another shower 11:30pm-midnight bringing the total to .47" for the day. "Heat" lightning was observed but no thunder. SUMMARY: Summer seemed to arrive early this year. This was the warmest May on record (since 1991) with 16 days 80 or higher. The mean temperature was 65.5 F, the same mean as last JUNE and 8.7 F higher than last May's 57.8 F average. Showers and storms were numerous with some severe weather in the area although this station dodged the bullet on the strongest storms. Precipitation totaled 4.31" which is near normal for May. Most of the rain fell during the 2nd half of the month. Additional notes/records 23: Record high min 62 F 24: Record high min 64 F May 2004 had the 2nd warmest mean minimum temperature on record for May at 53.9 F. Overall, May ranked 4th warmest with a mean temperature of 65.5 F.