MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - LAVALE MD SEPTEMBER 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 94 64 Sunny, hot, dry 2 97 65 Sunny, dry, very hot 3 96 65 .01 Partly sunny, very hot, brief PM shower, gusty W wind 4 73 62 Partly cloudy, much cooler, breezy 5 73 50 Partly cloudy, pleasant 6 86 47 Mostly sunny, very warm 7 93 54 Mostly sunny, hot 8 83 63 Partly cloudy,breezy 9 72 52 Partly cloudy, cooler, breezy 10 72 50 Partly cloudy 11 80 46 .23 T Partly cloudy, warm, late PM t-storm 12 76 60 Partly cloudy, breezy 13 86 60 Sunny, warm, breezy 14 78 56 Sunny, warm 15 80 52 Partly cloudy 16 59 55 .51 T Becoming mostly cloudy, cool, rain, late t-storm 17 70 59 Mostly to partly cloudy 18 76 49 F AM fog, then sunny 19 84 52 Fair & warm 20 75 50 Fair, mild 21 87 47 Cooler AM, very warm PM, fair skies 22 89 56 .09 T Partly cloudy, hot, humid, brief PM t-storm, breezy 23 89 65 Partly cloudy, hot, humid, breezy 24 91 63 Partly cloudy, hot, humid, breezy 25 82 61 Mostly sunny, breezy, warm 26 72 53 .07 Increasing clouds, late PM rain 27 62 56 .67 Occasional rain & showers, cool 28 66 61 .33 Rain overnight, AM showers, mostly cloudy, cool 29 66 50 T F AM fog, cloudy, cool, light shower very late 30 64 59 3.14 Heavy steady rain, gusty SE winds, partial PM clearing AVG/SUM 79.0 56.1 5.05 0.0 - EXT 97 46 3.14 - - Date 2 11 30 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 67.6°F (+3.4°F) Year precipitation to date: 30.90" (-0.42") Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog 2 Thunder 3 NOTES/SIGNIFICANT EVENTS VERY HOT & DRY 1-3: Sunny, dry, very hot. High 97 on the 2nd is the hottest September reading in 56 years (since 1954) and just misses the 1953 record of 98. Min humidities in the 20s. 4-5: Much cooler after a cold front passed through on the afternoon of the 3rd. HOT 7: Hot high 93 F. Very mild overnight on the 8th still 73 F at 7am, would have set an all-time record high min for September, but a dry cold front dropped temps into the 60s this evening. SOME RAIN 11: Partly cloudy, warm, thunderstorm late this evening 16: Much cooler, rain developing, surprise evening thunderstorm with lots of lightning and thunder - severe storm warnings were posted from Cumberland east. HOT AGAIN 21-24: Hot & humid, near-record heat, brief gusty t-storm around 6pm on the 22nd. Very warm overnight on the 25th with a low of 71, would have tied the monthly record high min, but again wiped out by a dry cold front passage, PM temps dropped through the 60s. COOLER - WET 27-28: Periods of rain & showers, briefly heavy at times. 1.07" storm total. DRENCHING TROPICAL DOWNPOURS 30: Heavy steady rain from remants of Tropical Storm Nicole. Most of this rain fell from around daybreak to early afternoon and caused some flooding in the area. Partial PM clearing, breezy. 3.14" of rain is the heaviest day since Frances, another tropical system, dumped 4.36" on Sep. 8, 2004 (4.64" total 8th-9th). More recently, tropical storm Fay dropped 3.52" in 24 hours on Aug. 27-28, 2008. Today's 3.14" of rain is the 4th highest daily total for the month of September. Interestingly, in 1959, also following a drought, torrential downpours fell from the remnants of Hurricane Gracie on the same date but slightly later. A whopping 4.67" of rain fell in 24 hours from that system, one of heaviest rain storms ever, but 3.33" of it was attributed to October 1. MONTHLY SUMMARY Abnormally warm weather continued into September. This is the 7th consecutive month with above normal temperatures, a remarkable streak, especially as it followed a record snowy winter 2009-2010. The month began very hot and dry, with temperatures well into the 90s. The high of 97 on the 2nd was the hottest September reading since 1954. Four days were in the 90s during the 1st week and 5 days in all, the most 90+ readings in September since 1998. There were also many readings in the 80s. The early September heat rivaled that of 1953 and 1954. 1953 still holds the records for the first 4 days and the overall monthly record of 100 on Sep. 3rd. 1954 holds the 5th-7th record highs. This was a very dry heat, as humidities bottomed out in the 20s. After another heat wave broke out around the offical start of fall, with more near-record high temps, the month ended with cool max temperatures, as a couple of heavy rain events passed through. Low temperatures were typically in the 50s, with 11 lows in the low-mid 60s, and only 4 readings below 50. The max and min anomalies contributed about equally to the monthly temperature departure of +3.4°F - another very warm month overall. Severe drought conditions that had been developing since April continued to intensify, due partly to the heat (more evaporation) but mainly from the lack of rainfall. Only 4 of the first 25 days had any measurable precipitation. While there were many frontal passages, most of them yielded little or no rain. For awhile, September looked like a near-record dry month. Less than an inch of rain fell all the way through the 26th. However, over an inch of rain fell in a 36-hour period from the 26th-28th. Then we got soaked by remnant moisture from Tropical Storm Nicole on the final day of the month. A daily record 3.14" fell on the 30th, the 4th highest amount to fall any day in September. This rain event pushed September precipitation well above average with 5.05" recorded. The tropical downpour was the heaviest since Frances dumped 4.36" on 9/8/2004, and this was the heaviest 24-hour rain event since Tropical Storm Fay's remnants dropped 3.52" of rain on August 27-28, 2008. The heavy rain caused some minor flooding in the area, but nothing close to what some areas to our east experienced. Local rainfall totals east of Baltimore up and down the east coast, just inland, were over 10 inches in some cases! The two late-month rain events here accounted for 83% of September's precipitation total. ADDITIONAL NOTES/RECORDS: 2: High 97 F is the hottest September reading since 1954 (56 years). However, it falls 1 degree shy of the record of 98 set way back in 1953. 23: Record high min 65 F, eclipsing the 2007 mark of 64. 24: High 91 F, again 1 degree shy of the daily record, which was 92 in 1970 (30 years). 30: 3.14" of rain shatters the previous daily record rainfall of 1.34" in 1959. It is the 4th heaviest rain day for September and 11th heaviest rain day overall since records for this location commenced in 1948.