MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS LAVALE MD APRIL 2004 OBSERVER NATE MULLINS Observations for this month taken by Steve and Sara 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 Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 46 38 2.00 F,T 2 52 37 .49 3 54 36 .01 4 45 32 .09 T 5 52 24 6 62 26 7 75 39 8 51 39 .20 T 9 54 41 10 63 34 11 48 39 .11 12 40 38 1.26 13 44 39 .88 F 14 46 39 .01 15 55 35 16 64 30 frost 17 80 38 18 84 50 19 84 48 20 78 54 .02 T 21 75 57 .02 T 22 72 58 .12 23 75 56 .04 F 24 70 52 25 56 49 .66 T 26 59 53 .32 27 61 43 .06 28 70 32 frost 29 79 41 30 80 50 31 AVG/SUM 62.5 41.6 6.29 T - EXT 84 24 2.00 T - Date 19+ 5 1 4 - +=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats: Mean Monthly Temperature: 52.0 F Year precipitation to date: 15.17" Season snowfall to date: 60.5" Number of days with: Fog: 3 Ice Pellets: 0 Glaze: 0 Thunder: 5 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 0 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: HEAVY RAIN / STORMS / MOUNTAIN SNOWS 1: A cold steady rain with fog throughout the day. Mainly light to moderate. Around 1.0" fell by 7pm. Showers and thunderstorms moved in from the NNE late this evening with torrential downpours and strong gusty winds. Nearly another inch of rain fell between 9-10pm. More showers through midnight total rain 2.00" fell by then... 2: More showers overnight another .20" by 7am and light rain/drizzle through the day total .49" fell. The rain-snow line was just a few hundred feet above this station and several inches of snow fell on top of Piney Mountain just to the west. Some of the higher elevations reported over a foot of snow. 3: Some very light showers overnight and through this morning just .01" fell. 4: Few showers overnight .09" fell, variably clouds, breezy & blustery with snow showers on and off through the day, not measurable. 5: Sunny but chilly and windy with NW gusts 20-30 mph. 6: Sunny again and a bit milder with less wind. 7: Another nice sunny day and warm high 75 F. 8: Light rain through the mid-afternoon .05" fell. Moderate rain 7:45-9:15pm with some lightning & thunder total .20" rain for the day. 9: Breezy & cool with mostly cloudy skies, West winds gusting 20+ mph. 10: Milder high 63F with calm winds and mostly cloud skies again. COLD RAINS 11: Light rain & drizzle throughout most of the day and chilly with temperatures steady around 40 F. Total .11" rain fell. 12: A cold steady rain began about 7am and continued all day long. Moderate to heavy at times. Total 1.26" fell by midnight. Temperatures remained between 38-40 F the entire day. 13: Periods of rain again through the day with patchy fog. Again chilly with temperatures in the low to mid 40s. Some heavier downpours 3-4pm, rain ended by 5pm. Another .88" fell today. 14: Cool, cloudy & breezy with NNW winds gusting 20+ mph. Sprinkles & light rain around 1pm .01" fell. 15: Clear skies for a change with winds gusting 20+ from the NE 16: A freeze & frost this morning low 30 F. Warmed up to a high of 64 F this afternoon with clear skies. 17: A chilly low of 38 F this morning but warmed rapidly to a high of 80 F. Brief period of gusty W winds mid-late afternoon, some high PM clouds but overall mostly sunny 18: A warm high 84 F today with strong W breezes around late morning. Hazy party to mostly sunny skies. 19: Again warm high 84 F. Increasing afternoon clouds and gusty WNW winds 25+ mph. 20: Mostly sunny with varying amounts of clouds. Heavy clouds this evening with some lightning and thunder as storms passed to the S & E 8-10pm but little rain only .02" fell at this station. 21: Variable cloudiness. Same story this evening with dark clouds & gusty WSW winds, lots of lightning & thunder began about 9pm but again only .02" rain fell. 22: Heavy overcast all day. Light rain about 3:45-6:45pm and some light showers through the evening .12" 23: Light rain ended overnight with some fog this morning. Mainly cloudy. Light rain 4-5pm total .04" 24: Gusty WNW winds before dawn. Clear sunny day with some increasing high clouds from the SW this evening. 25: Light rain began about 7:30am and became moderate to heavy with some thunder ending about 9am. Another round of rain and storms began about 4pm. Showers through the evening total .66" fell. 26: Light rain overnight and through the morning, tapered off around noon another .32" since midnight. Partly cloudy this afternoon with calm winds. 27: Variable clouds and windy with falling temperatures throughout the day and some rain showers this afternoon .06". Snow showers fell in the higher elevations. 28: Chilly low 32 F with patchy frost. Sunny pleasant day high 70 F. WSW winds gusting to 25 mph. 29: Clear cool low 41 F then a sunny warm day high 79 F 30: Warm again high 80 F. Sunny with some increasing evening by evening. SUMMARY: Temperatures were cool during the first half of April with days in the 40s and 50s and nights in the 30s, but the 2nd half was warm with highs reaching the 70s and 80s and nights mainly in the 40s and 50s. The 6.29 inches of precipitaton made this the wettest April since 1998 when 6.80" fell. Two systems brought over two inches of rainfall, the first of which produced heavy snows on nearby mountain ridges.