MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA OCTOBER 2010 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 61 48 48 2 65 40 51 F 3 58 47 48 4 48 43 43 .10 5 45 42 43 .25 F 6 50 42 50 .22 F 7 62 48 51 8 69 43 61 9 77 54 54 10 75 47 68 T 11 76 54 58 .11 T 12 67 49 49 .23 F,T 13 67 36 48 14 51 42 42 .16 15 53 41 46 .07 H 16 58 42 50 17 66 47 47 18 58 36 44 .12 19 54 40 40 .20 F 20 59 33 45 frost 21 56 44 44 22 50 36 43 23 69 40 55 24 74 49 57 25 58 51 56 .18 F 26 73 51 57 .52 F 27 68 50 54 .03 28 62 42 42 29 43 35 35 T 30 58 31 54 31 54 38 38 T AVG/SUM 60.8 43.3 49.1 2.19 0.0 - EXT 77 31 68/35 0.52 - - Date 9 30 10/29 26 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 52.0°F (+1.0°F) Year precipitation to date: 46.96" (+6.25") Monthly Precipitation Departure: -1.08" Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog: 7 Thunder: 2 Hail: 1 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES 1: Mostly cloudy AM, becoming partly cloudy PM, breezy, cooling off this evening 2: AM fog, cool, then partly to mostly sunny, becoming mostly cloudy by sunset 3: Mostly cloudy and somewhat cool, light variable winds COOL & DAMP 4: Cloudy & very cool with periods of light rain and drizzle, mostly in the morning. High only 48 and set at midnight, temps in the mid 40s all day and evening and raw NNE winds. 5: Another dreary and very cool day with temperatures remaining in the mid 40s high only 45 and periods of light rain and drizzle, raw breezes from NNW, 0.25" of rain today. 6: Continued cool and damp with temperatures still in the 40s and periods of drizzle and occasional rain with breezes from the WNW. Dense fog especially at higher elevations. MILD & PLEASANT 7: Mostly cloudy AM, becoming mostly sunny PM, gusty winds from WNW, milder 8: Sunny & pleasant with breezy conditions from the W. Clear, breezy, mild evening. 9: Sunny, warm, breezy at times from the W. High 77 F. Low slipped to 54 at midnight. 10: Sunny AM, variably cloudy PM with a few sprinkles around 3pm. Gusty W winds at times but a mild summer-like evening with summer bugs suddenly back and temps in the low 70s. GUSTY THUNDERSTORMS - INTENSE LIGHTNING 11: Another mostly sunny, warm day with breezes from the W. Partly cloudy in the evening, a train of severe thunderstorms tracked north of here. Brief gusty t-storm at 11:30pm. 12: 3 more thunderstorms overnight between midnight-4am. Not a lot of rain .34" since 11pm as the storms moved very quickly, but all of them produced gusty winds and lots of close cracking thunder & lightning. The lightning struck a house of a woman I work with. She lives in Ashville NE of here. It is unusual to get serial thunderstorms with so much lightning this late in the season. Some patchy AM fog, especially in valleys. Variably cloudy is morning, breezy from WNW, becoming sunny and pleasant this afternoon/evening. 13: Chilly this morning low 36 F, no frost here but some frost just north of town. Sunny & pleasantly mild with occasional SW breezes. Some clouds moving in late. 14: Light rain around daybreak, variably to mostly cloudy, chilly, gusty W to NW winds, very brief downpour about 3:15pm with .10" in about 5 minutes and a peak rate of 3.79"/hr. 15: Mostly cloudy with occasional drizzle overnight. Variably to partly cloudy with a brief showers around 3:15pm with small hail. Cool, breezy & blustery. 16: Mostly sunny & breezy. 17: Sunny, breezy & milder. 18: Cool overnight low 36 F. Partly cloudy, becoming mostly cloudy with a few sprinkles, light rain developed late this evening. 19: Overnight rain, mostly light, .32" of rain since 9:30pm last night. Patchy dense fog early, cool, mostly cloudy, clearing by afternoon, light W winds. 20: Chilly this morning with the first frost of the season. Low was 32.7 F. Sunny & mild pleasant day with occasionally gusty W winds. 21: Temperatures rose overnight to 56 at 3:25 am then remained steady around 50 with some strong SW wind gusts especially early, low dipped to 45 F by midnight. 22: Partly cloudy early, chilly, breezy & blustery. Sunny but high struggled to 50 today. 23: Increasing clouds overnight, not as cold expected low only 40. Became partly cloudy and mild high 69 F with moderate breezes from the W continuing. 24: A mild, partly to mostly sunny & breezy day with highs in the mid 70s. 25: Becoming overcast around daybreak with occasional showers during the afternoon. 26: Valley fog early, otherwise partly cloudy, mild and somewhat humid with some occasional gusts from the SSE. Breezy and mild evening, summer bugs still heard prior to the rain showers that moved through from 7pm-midnight and dropped .52" rain. 27: Rain ended shortly after midnight (.03", .55" storm total), then skies cleared. Mostly sunny and mild with occasional breezes from the SW. 28: Mostly sunny and windy with W winds gusting 25+ mph. Temperatures dropped off quickly until clouds moved in by mid-evening. WINDY - COLDER - HIGH ELEVATION SNOW FLURRIES 29: Variably cloudy, windy & blustery high only 43 F with occasional light drizzle but not measurable. Light rain showers mixed with snow and sleet in Ebensburg where I work. 30: Cold overnight, though a very late first freeze and barely with a low of 31 as clouds moved in early this morning. Partly to mostly cloudy with gusty SW winds, mild PM. 31: Variably cloudy and windy overnight with some light drizzle, again not measurable. Partly cloudy, breezy, slowly falling temps, high temp at midnight and low at midnight. MONTHLY SUMMARY October 2010 was a relatively uneventful month with somewhat above normal temperatures and moderately subnormal precipitation, the first in the past six months with below normal precipitation and the driest month of 2010 thus far. This was deceptive in an opposite way to September, which was dry until 2.72" of rain fell from Tropical Storm Nicole on the 30th. While the weather pattern was actually quite active, most of the systems that passed through were relatively weak, and October had a notable lack of any particularly heavy rainfall events, as opposed to September, which had less days with rain but a much higher total due to a heavy rain event on the final day of the month. A cut-off low over the area a few days later, from October 4th-6th, produced persistent light rains and cool temperatures. The warmest temperatures occurred during the second week, with highs in the mid 70s from the 9th-11th. A strong cold front early on the 12th sparked several thunderstorms overnight. These storms were severe to the north, where large hail and wind damage were reported. Here, intense, frequent lightning was observed, but winds were not damaging and rainfall amounts were modest. On the 14th, a brief passing shower produced small hail. A late 1st frost occurred on the 20th. The 4th week yielded temperatures mild enough to bring back a few late summer bugs. That ceased on the 30th, when an also late first freeze occurred, and only dipping to 31. This followed a cold front that dropped the month's heaviest rain, a quite modest .52", on the evening of the 26th, and .55" in 6 hours (26th-27th). Some snow and sleet was observed north of this location on the 29th. Despite a cool start and finish, October had above normal temperatures, mostly due to above normal min temperatures and the lack of any particularly cold readings.