MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA SEPTEMBER 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 79 60 68 .95 F,T 2 87 65 68 3 95 67 72 F 4 90 64 64 .46 F,T 5 66 54 55 .65 F 6 56 54 55 1.89 F 7 66 55 61 .98 F 8 79 59 64 .26 F 9 67 63 64 1.49 F,T 10 74 60 60 F 11 76 57 58 F 12 80 53 59 13 82 55 65 14 80 62 63 T T 15 63 43 43 .37 F,T 16 57 40 46 17 62 45 48 18 69 45 48 19 61 45 55 .35 20 69 55 58 .09 21 77 57 63 .10 F 22 74 59 59 .40 F 23 67 56 56 .26 F 24 71 53 60 25 76 58 63 26 75 61 65 27 72 60 60 .77 T 28 73 56 57 T 29 62 50 50 .14 F 30 55 43 43 .21 AVG/SUM 72.0 55.1 58.3 9.37 0.0 - EXT 95 40 72/43 1.89 - - Date 3 16 3/30* 6 - - *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 63.6°F (+1.2°F) Year precipitation to date: 49.89" (+12.45") Monthly Precipitation Departure: +5.22" Season snowfall to date: 0.0" Number of days with: Fog 15 Thunder 6 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES STORMY - THEN HOT/HUMID 1: Several thunderstorms this morning from 8-11am with rain heavy at times .95" fell. Fog formed during the storms, then lifted around noon - mostly sunny in the PM. 2: A mostly sunny very warm and hazy/humid day with a high of 87, heat index of 95. 3: Dense AM fog, finally lifted by 10am then became very hot and very humid with a high of 95 and an incredible 113 peak heat index. Partly to mostly sunny skies. LOTS O' RAIN FROM LEE 4: Partly sunny, hot and humid. An intense thunderstorm blew up just south & east of here and dumped torrential rains ~2" on the S & E parts of town this evening from about 4:30-6pm. We were on the NW fringe of the storm the entire time and only got .18", of rain, a few more showers and some thunder this evening total rain .46" 5: Becoming much cooler with a high of only 66, fog and a gentle steady rain through the entire day. Temperatures cooled into the 50s during the afternoon, .65" rain. 6: A steady soaking rain through the entire day with temperatures remaining only in the mid-50s all day and light E winds, foggy, 1.89" additional rain as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee passed through. Some flooding reported in the area. 7: Rain continued overnight heavy at times another .98" fell by 8am. No more rain the rest of the day as we were in a dry slot. Very heavy rain all day to our east. 8: Still no rain overnight and the fog lifted, skies became partly cloudy with light SE winds. Much warmer today. An isolated rain shower, still associated with Lee, dropped a quick .26" of rain around 10pm. 9: Occasional showers overnight and through the day, heavy at times with some rumbles of thunder, 1.47" of additional rain by 2pm, temps steady in the mid 60s. Foggy this evening with more heavy rain just skirting by to the NE, total for day 1.49". Flood warnings were in effect twice today - some stream, road & basement flooding. 10: Heavy overcast this morning but no rain, skies partially cleared this afternoon with pleasant temps. Finally a day without rain! Lee's storm total here was 5.73" Parts of the state have had devastating floods that rivaled Agnes in 1972. 11: Mostly sunny after early fog, breezy and pleasant, seasonal temps, again no rain. 9th consecutive day with fog and the 10th of 11 days this month with fog. 12: Mostly sunny and warm, light winds. No fog for the first time in 10 days. 13: Partly to mostly sunny and warm again, breezy, high 82. 14: Partly cloudy overnight, some lightning & thunder from a storm passing to the north shortly after midnight, no rain. Fair AM skies, increasing PM clouds, more rain & storms to our south this evening but only a few sprinkles. MORE FALL-LIKE TEMPS 15: Some thunder and rain showers overnight, becoming a drizzle during the morning, temperatures falling & becoming breezy, rain ended with partial PM clearing, cool evening with temps dropping through the 40s - our first real taste of fall so far 16: A cool early low of 39.6 (40) F. High clouds probably prevented an early frost. Skies were variably cloudy, with more clouds in the evening. High was a cool 57. 17: Another cool day with variable clouds again and breezy, high struggled to 62. 18: Partly to mostly sunny, a bit milder, breezy @ times, pleasant day. MORE RAIN/SHOWERS 19: Became overcast overnight, continued cool, mostly cloudy, occasional S breezes, steady mostly light rain developed this evening .35" fell by midnight. 20: Light rain ended overnight, remained mostly cloudy, near calm wind, slightly warmer temperatures. 21: Fog/haze this morning, then some partial clearing, windy at times, light rain showers this evening .10" fell. Warmer today high of 77 F. 22: Clouds, fog & rain showers, briefly heavy at times this morning .40" of rain then skies cleared partially, became mild, mostly clear this evening, light SSW winds. 23: Overcast, patchy fog, light S breezes, light rain early PM, brief heavy rain @ 4:30pm, a few breaks in the clouds with more patchy evening fog, .26" of rain. 24: Mostly cloudy AM, partly sunny PM, pleasant temps, mostly light winds. 25: Partly cloudy, occasional light-moderate breezes, pleasant temps. 26: Some clouds early then becoming partly to mostly sunny, breezy at times, mild. AND MORE RAIN... 27: Severe thunderstorm passed mostly east of here - again - from 4:30-5:30am. Almost constant lightning & thunder, only .10" rain. Heavy rain from 7-8am, then a few peaks of sun, brief downpour around sunset, .77" total rain. Little wind today. 28: Cloudy overnight and through the AM, no rain. Partly to mostly cloudy PM, several lines of heavy rain and thunderstorms just missed to the east, with the rain line right at Westmont. No measurable rain here. Again, little wind, seasonal temps. 29: Overnight shower (.13"), dense AM fog, then mostly cloudy, cool, breezy, a brief PM shower. 30: Overnight shower (.10"), becoming windy with variable clouds early, overcast PM with periods of light rain and drizzle, continued breezy with falling temps. MONTHLY SUMMARY September brought record amounts of rain to the area. A whopping 9.37" fell, breaking the 1971 record of 9.02" for September. It was the 2nd wettest month at this station since records commenced August 2004. The wettest was 10.48" in August 2007, also a monthly record. 8.80" in December 2008 had also set a record. The CoCoRaHS station on the east side of town, Belmont, where nearly every storm seemed to dump significantly higher amounts of rain, recorded a ridiculous 12.28", and the airport, also on the east side of town, recorded over 11 inches. In general, the heaviest rains passed to the east, with some incredible monthly totals around the Susquehanna River Valley in the 15-20" range. The Harrisburg area was hardest hit, with an amazing 21.39" of rain at nearby Paxtonia PA (CoCoRaHS). The drenching rains, much falling from the stalled remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, followed an extremely wet August, in which similar amounts of rain fell over the same area. The back-to-back deluges from Irene and Lee resulted in extreme record flooding of the Susquehanna, which exceeded the June 1972 floods due to Tropical Storm Agnes. Locally, there was some minor flooding, mainly when Lee slowly inched through the area from the 4th-9th, dropping 5.73" of rain here and over 8 inches at Belmont during the same period. Many other systems brought moderate amounts of rain here, before stalling to our east. I have never seen so many bands of training heavy rain and thunderstorms hitting the same areas repeatedly. In most cases, these heavy rain bands were oriented from south to north and moved like- wise. Needless to say, September was extremely wet. Temperatures, in general, were fairly unremarkable, and once again were above normal, for the 6th consecutive month and the 7th of the last 8. Mins were generally above normal, with near normal max temps, and relatively weak diurnal swings, due to all of the cloud cover. There was a lack of any particularly cool weather. The high of 95 on the 3rd and 90 on the 4th definitely skewed the otherwise fairly consistent max temps to above normal levels as well. The heat index of 113 on the 3rd made it one of the hottest September days in many years. 3 days later, the 6th, had a high of only 56, while heavy rain was falling from Lee. After Lee finally dissipated, temperatures hit the 80s during the 2nd week, before a cold front on the 15th ushered in a string of 4 consecutive lows in the 40s. The only other reading in the 40s was on the 30th, when another cold front passed through. Temperatures during the second half of September were much more consistent, and generally seasonal, with mainly 60s and 70s. Lows were on the mild side, with mostly 50s and still some low 60s. Fog was common, occuring on half (15) of the days, and thunder was heard on 6 days. Strong storms hit the area on the 1st, 4th and 9th, and a severe storm hit the east side of town early on the 27th.