MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD OCTOBER 2011 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 51 40 .85 Steady rain, cool 2 44 40 .32 Mostly cloudy, cool, PM rain 3 50 41 .14 Periods of light rain and cool 4 61 45 .02 Brief AM shower, PM clearing 5 65 51 Partly cloudy 6 65 49 Partly cloudy 7 68 50 Partly cloudy 8 70 48 F AM fog, partly cloudy 9 72 49 F AM fog, partly cloudy 10 70 49 F AM fog, partly sunny 11 62 50 .01 Mostly cloudy, late PM rain 12 56 55 1.02 F Steady rain all day 13 60 55 .48 F Rain & drizzle 14 60 50 .31 F AM rain, PM clearing, windy 15 63 49 Partly cloudy, windy 16 71 53 Mild, variably cloudy 17 68 49 .07 DW Strong winds overnight, partly cloudy, shower 18 68 48 Partly cloudy 19 58 54 .21 Mostly cloudy, PM showers 20 55 45 .10 T Early AM t-storm, mostly cloudy, brief shower 21 56 45 .01 Mostly cloudy, AM drizzle 22 60 45 Partly to mostly cloudy 23 62 36 Partly cloudy, some patchy frost 24 62 45 T Increasing clouds, PM sprinkles 25 62 44 Partly cloudy 26 62 40 .18 Mostly cloudy, breezy, showers 27 60 40 .03 Mostly cloudy, few light showers, breezy 28 44 32 T T Increasing clouds, late snow 29 35 30 .82 7.0 2 Steady snow, heavy @ times, cold 30 44 30 4 Partly cloudy, cool 31 46 30 T 1 Partly to mostly cloudy, few sprinkles AVG/SUM 59.0 44.7 4.57 7.0 0.2 (avg) EXT 72 30 1.02 7.0 4 Date 9 31* 12 29 30 *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 51.9°F (-1.3°F) Year precipitation to date: 45.05" (+10.75") Monthly precipitation departure: +1.59" Season snowfall to date: 7.0" (+6.9") Number of days with: Fog 6 Thunder 1 Damaging Winds 1 NOTES/SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 1-4: A cold steady rain moved in from the NE. 0.85" of rain on the 1st and 1.33" total for the storm. Record low maxes were set on the 1st (51) and 2nd (44). On the 2nd, it was cold enough for the earliest accumulating snow on record at elevations above 2500 ft. 5-11: A stretch of fair, mild weather. 12-14: A steady rain event totaling 1.82". The heaviest rain was on the 12th, when a daily record 1.02" fell. 15: Windy 16: Mild 17: Very windy - brief shower 19-20: Steady light rain on the 19th. A thunderstorm early on the 20th. 23: Patchy frost, low of 36. 26-27: Light rains, breezy, turning colder. 29: RECORD-SHATTERING October snowfall of 7". This sets a record for the date, for any day in October and in fact for the entire month of October. It is the earliest big snow in 64 years of records at this location. 9.1" and 3.0" fell at Frostburg and Cumberland, respectively, also setting records, which date clear back to 1889. Needless to say, it was a historic snow event. The weight of the heavy, wet snow brought down trees and power lines over much of western and central MD. Meanwhile, the high of 35 is a record low for the date and for the entire month of October, surpassing the previous record of 37 on October 27, 2001. Additional notes/records: 1: Record low max 51 F. Old record 53 F in 1966. 2: Record low max 44 F. Shatters old record 56 in 2009. 12: Record daily precip 1.02". Old record 0.85" in 1983. 29: 7.0" snow shatters the daily record of a trace set on numerous occasions. It is the most snow to fall in any day in October and shatters the record for the entire month. The previous daily and monthly record was 1.0" in 1962. 29: Daily record low max 35 F, old record 42 in 2002. This is not only a daily record but is the coldest max temperature for the entire month of October. MONTHLY SUMMARY An active weather pattern continued in October, which had 3 major storm events and several minor systems affecting the area. This came after a near-record wet September. The first major system brought a cold, persistent rain to the area during the first 4 days. 1.33" of rain fell, with amounts of 2+ inches falling at higher elevations. Some mountain locations had their earliest measurable snowfall on record. Wet snow was noted on the 2nd at my Westmont station near Johnstown, PA. After a week of brilliant fall weather, another slow- moving system brought the month's heaviest rain event, with 1.82" falling from the 12th to the 14th. High winds occurred on the 15th and 17th. Frontal passages on the 20th and 27th brought lighter amounts of rain to the area. But the unquestionable highlight wasn't a rain system, rather a record early season snowfall of 7.0" on the 29th. The highest amounts, some over a foot, occurred over the higher elevations of western and central Maryland, as an early-season Nor' Easter roared up the east coast. The storm dumped tremendous amounts of snow over parts of New England. It was a historic event, as our area very rarely sees measurable snow in October. The last time even an inch fell was in 1962, and the last time Cumberland had multiple inches of snow was in 1940. The previous early season heavy snows hadn't occurred until mid-November, such as on Veterans Day in 1987 when 7.0" fell and on Nov. 14-15, 1995, when 8.5" of heavy wet snow fell from a Nor' Easter. The weight of this snow caused many power outages in the area, due to fallen trees and power lines, and this Halloween looked more like Christmas, following the extremely rare October snow storm. While precipitation was above normal for the 3rd consecutive month, temperatures were below normal for the first time since January, breaking an 8-month streak with above-average temperatures. While min temperatures were above normal, with a lack of sub-freezing temps until the final four days, max temperatures were well below normal, mainly due to the cool readings at the beginning of the month and especially at the end. The 35-degree max on the 29th, the day of the big snow storm, was the coldest ever at this station for October. In general, high temperatures were in the 60s, with most lows in the 40s. 6 days had fog, all in a one-week period, with one thunderstorm (20th) and some minor wind damage on the 17th.