MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA MAY 2011 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 (Eastern US). Temperature, °F Precipitation, In. Liquid Solid 7am 24-hour At Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Obs Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 53 47 52 .21 F 2 74 51 59 .12 F 3 75 40 40 .31 F 4 44 39 40 .10 5 62 37 48 6 65 37 46 7 66 42 49 .03 8 70 44 53 9 73 42 53 10 75 43 61 11 80 53 59 12 84 50 61 T T 13 79 59 60 .11 F,T 14 70 59 59 T F 15 66 56 56 .49 F 16 65 53 54 .03 F 17 58 52 55 .56 F 18 63 51 51 .76 F 19 64 49 53 .07 F 20 66 52 58 T F 21 80 52 61 22 75 54 64 .04 23 78 60 69 .76 T 24 72 62 62 .17 T 25 82 60 67 1.02 F,T 26 82 60 60 .19 T 27 74 58 61 .27 T 28 82 59 66 T 29 90 63 69 30 90 67 74 31 92 64 73 AVG/SUM 72.5 52.1 57.8 5.24 0.0 - EXT 92 37 74/40 1.02 - - Date 31 6* 30/4* 25 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 62.3°F (+3.6°F) Year precipitation to date: 28.20" (+8.98") Monthly precipitation departure: +0.93" Season snowfall to date: 124.6" Number of days with: Fog 12 Thunder 7 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES SHOWERY 1: Cloudy, cool, periods of light rain and drizzle all day, little wind. 2: Mostly cloudy and milder with a rain shower around 3:30pm, light/variable winds. 3: A few early peaks of sun and milder overnight, occasional light to moderate rain in the PM hours, moderate wind gusts from the W and much cooler this evening. 4: Chilly overnight with light rain ending. Overcast and very cool high only 44 F with light rain again this afternoon. Some nearby reports of AM wet snowflakes. FAIR, SEASONABLE WEATHER 5: Cool overnight, mostly sunny, breezy and pleasant, still slightly cool 6: Partly cloudy and cool overnight, a mostly sunny pleasant day, breezy at times. 7: Variably cloudy and breezy, brief shower this evening about 6pm. 8: Partly sunny AM, mostly sunny PM, light variable breezes, mild. 9: A mild, sunny, beautiful spring day with light variable breezes, 100% sunshine. 10: Variable clouds early, then mostly sunny and mild, again little wind. 11: Became mostly cloudy overnight, then partly to mostly sunny and warm high 80F, light S winds. 12: Partly cloudy, very warm and more humid high 84 F and light S winds - a very summer-like day. Big cluster of storms to the W evaporated as it approached this evening, only a trace of rain fell with occasional rumbles of thunder. 13: A light shower just after midnight, mostly cloudy, patchy fog, mild & muggy. Brief light AM shower with thunder to north this morning, storms in area but none here this evening, only light rain. Warm & humid high 79 F. 14: AM patchy fog, mostly cloudy with heavy rain to our N/W all day but none here. COOLER - SHOWERY 15: A period of moderate rain overnight and early this morning, then overcast and cool with a couple of brief PM showers .49" rain fell. Light patchy fog. 16: Mostly overcast and continued cool, haze/fog, a few brief light rain showers. 17: Continued cloudy and cool with rain this AM, patchy PM drizzle, a few more rain showers this evening after 7pm .56" fell. 18: Occasional showers resuming shortly before daybreak and continuing on and off through mid-afternoon with a few brief downpours .76" more rain today. We dodged the severe weather bullet again, as severe thunderstorms and flash floods ravaged areas such as Allegany Co. MD, where my hometown of La Vale was flooded, Frostburg had severe hail and a funnel cloud was seen over Cumberland. 19: Variably cloudy with a few light AM showers. Near calm winds. 20: Mostly cloudy, hazy, light variable winds, a trace of drizzle this evening. 21: Clearing overnight and a mostly sunny, very pleasant day, warm high 80 F. 22: Variably cloudy with a light AM shower. Humid PM but no more rain. SW breezes. BECOMING SHOWERY/STORMY AGAIN 23: A gusty thunderstorm at 1am dropped .58" rain in 15 minutes and close lightning. Variable clouds, warm, another brief heavy t-storm with ~ 30 mph SW wind gusts at 11am. Skies became partly cloudy during the PM hours with diminishing winds. 24: Heavy overcast and cool this morning, clouds finally broke during afternoon, a humid evening, several thunderstorms just south of here after sunset, then just north and west finally bringing a couple brief downpours just before midnight. 25: Thunderstorm with heavy downpours and sharp close lightning 12:30-1:30am 1.02" rain fell, the majority of it falling in 20 minutes from 12:40-1am. Foggy this morning then becoming party cloudy, very warm and humid high 82 F. 26: A partly sunny, warm, humid day. Becoming mostly cloudy PM with strong to severe thunderstorms missing this location especially south & east. Mammatus clouds seen early this evening but not much happened, unlike my hometown of Cumberland MD that got hammered with large hail and heavy rains as well as parts of PA to our east where radar showed likely tornadoes. Mild thunderstorms late this eve. 27: Light rain showers overnight, a few PM t-showers but for the 2nd consecutive day we dodged severe storms and flash floods, which again tracked mostly south/east of here, and again hammered the hometown areas of Cumberland/LaVale/Frostburg. BECOMING DRY AND VERY HOT 28: Overcast early this morning with sprinkles, becoming partly to mostly sunny and warm high 82 F with light SW breezes. Variable clouds after sunset. 29: Mostly sunny with passing clouds and hot high 90 F, light SW winds. Heat index peaked at 95 today - summer seems to have arrived right on cue. 30: Mostly sunny, again unusually hot and more humid with a high of 90 F and a heat index of 101 F, light SW winds. A very sultry day resembling summer dog days. 31: Mostly sunny and continued unbelievably hot, high 92 F with a staggering 103 F heat index, a new station record. Virtually no wind - horribly uncomfortable. MONTHLY SUMMARY May followed suit of April, with showery, at times stormy weather, and more historic tornado outbreaks across parts of the country, most notably the horrifying EF-5 twister that demolished the city of Joplin, MO and left well over a hundred dead. This, after a record-shattering number of tornadoes and tornado deaths in April. Locally, there were scattered severe storms, but once again, we dodged the bullet and did not receive any damaging winds, hail or tornadoes. Areas just east of the mountains were again the target of many severe thunderstorms, flooding rains, and more than a dozen tornadoes in the state. Oddly, the Laurel Highlands missed the heaviest rain and most of the severe weather that hit normally drier areas just east of the Allegheny Front, where training thunderstorms dropped record amounts of rain. Rainfall was still above average at this station, for the 4th consecutive month, and 2011 had one of the wettest Springs on record with 19.75" of precipitation. May began cool and showery and finished scorching hot and dry. The trend of warming temperatures throughout the month was very evident this May. The first week was by far the coolest, with a rather chilly max reading of 44 on the 4th, and the lowest overall readings of 37 on the 5th and 6th. However, since the late January Arctic outbreak, there has been a notable lack of extremes, particularly min temperatures, which were once again well above normal. The 2nd week was by far the "nicest" week of the month, with welcome sunshine after a stormy April, and moderating temps. The 3rd week turned cool and damp, with frequent light to moderate rains and lots of fog. However, from the 21st on, temperatures were quite warm. Highs reached the 70s and 80s during the stormy 4th week, then reached 90+ on each of the final 3 days, as summer made an early, bold arrival on Memorial Day weekend. The heat index reached 103 on the 31st. This intense heat & humidity is almost unheard of here this early in the season. Max temperatures, and thus overall temps, were well above normal.