MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS
LAVALE MD
APRIL 2002
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.

	Temperature, °F		Precipitation, In.		
				Liquid	Solid	7am
	24-hour		Temp	Rain	Snow/	Snow
Date	Max	Min	at Obs	Equiv	Ice	Depth	Special Obs.

1	57	42	42	   T			F
2	74	37	54
3	54	32	32	   T	  T		S
4	48	26	34
5	51	29	33	   T
6	43	23	25	   T	  T
7	58	20	37
8	73	36	55
9	65	50	50	 .30
10	66	41	41	 .01
11	68	31	42
12	71	34	52	 .07
13	65	52	52	 .51
14	72	49	57	 .87			F,T
15	80	56	62	 .02
16	88	54	65
17	90	60	67
18	85	64	64
19	87	56	64	   T
20	77	55	55	 .02
21	55	40	40	 .65			F,T
22	60	39	40	 .05
23	54	36	36
24	67	29	48
25	59	44	44	 .06
26	62	39	40
27	63	33	47	 .29			F
28	79	45	51	1.14			F,T
29	51	41	41	   T
30	68	40	45	 .09

AVG	66.3	41.1	SUM	4.08	   T	N/A
EXT	90 	20 	MAX	1.14	   T	 -    
Date	17 	 7	DATE	  28	 3,6  	 - 

Mean Monthly Temperature:  53.7 F  
Mean Temp at Obs Time:  47.2 F 

Number of days with:
	Fog:  5
	Ice Pellets:  1
	Glaze:  0 
	Thunder:  3 
	Hail:  0 
	Damaging Winds:  0 

NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
1:  Neighbor David Drewery observed through early PM.  Overall a pleasantly mild & breezy day.
2:  Warm high of 74F with sunshine.
3:  Temperatures dropped all day long with little spits of rain and sleet at times & windy.
6:  Another cold, blustery day with AM snow flurries
8:  Much milder and breezy during PM.  A good mix of clouds and sun.
9:  Mild but cloudy with showers at times, brief downpours around 5pm, total .30" fell.
11: A sunny mild and pleasant day
12: Partly cloudy and another mild/pleasant day, except a shower 4:30-5:30pm .07" fell.
13: A few showers on and off with a heavy downpour 4-4:30pm, cleared late, total .51" rain.
14: Foggy overnight and early morning then varying amounts of clouds & mild.  Thundershower
    2:30-3pm and a brief but intense thunderstorm hit around 7pm with torrential rain, frequent
    lightning and 25mph wind gusts.  More rain this evening was heavy 9-10pm, total rain .87".

IS IT SUMMER ALREADY?
15: A warm 80 degree day; lots of lightning late this evening from severe storms to N in PA
16: Unseasonably warm under mostly sunny skies, a high of 88F.
17: Hot!  Record warmth, high 90°F.
18: Another warm day with lightning from storms to the NE in PA late this evening.
19: Very warm again, storms to S early this PM, and lightning from more storms to the S and SW
    late this evening, but only a few sprinkles.
20: Temperatures cooled during the afternoon, sprinkles/light showers, only .02" rain.
21: Much cooler, periods of rain and drizzle, fog during the evening.  Thunderstorms 10pm-
    midnight with a brief downpour then lighter showers, total rain today .65".
24: A chilly overnight low of 29F with a moderate frost.
27: Gradual increasing cloudiness with light rain 7pm-midnight moderate at times late, .29" fell
    and some patchy fog toward midnight.
28: Rain overnight and through the morning, heavy at times, ended by 10am with another 1.04"
    falling since midnight.  Several thunderstorms skirted just north & south of here 4-6pm with
    one brief hit just before 6pm with wind gusts to 20 mph.  Total rain 1.14" today.

APRIL'S SUMMARY

The drought continued to ease in April with a healthy 4.08" precipitation total for the month.
There was no severe weather locally, but a deadly F4 twister touched down in LaPlata (eastern MD)
on the 28th. The winds from the LaPlata tornado were estimated very close to F5 at about 260 mph,
topping the 210-mph F4 that touched down in Frostburg on June 2, 1998.  The Frostburg Tornado was
previously the strongest tornado in recorded Maryland history, coming 3 miles from this station.

April brought its typical roller-coaster temperature swings, with a chilly 20 F on the 7th and
a sizzling 90 F on the 17th.  The bout of summer-like weather during the middle of the month
boosted temperatures above average.