August lived up to Oklahoma'spenchant for monotonously dry summer months and even threw in a goodly amountof heat to boot. Dry conditions in the southern half of the state overwhelmedabundant rains along the Kansas border to propel the month to the 35^thdriest August on record. As with any dry summer month, excessive heat taggedalong and August finished as the 18^th warmest on record at 3 degreesabove normal. The heat and lack of rainfall combined in a rapid-onset droughtsituation, or flash drought, in the southern half of the state. The floodingrains of early July were no match for the plant-wilting force of the Augustsun. The summer ended as the 12^th warmest on record but those earlyrains during June and July did help the season finish as the 48^thwettest. Very little in the way of severe weather occurred during August,although a few storms managed to throw severe winds towards the ground attimes.

Precipitation

East central and southeasternOklahoma bore the brunt of the dry weather, finishing with their 7^th-and 8^th-driest August on record, respectively. The east centralregion received an average rainfall total of 0.75 inches, more than 2 inchesbelow normal. The Panhandle uncharacteristically came out on top in themoisture sweepstakes with an average of 3.56 inches, more than an inch abovenormal, to rank as the 28^th wettest August for that region. Thestatewide average ended almost an inch below normal at 1.96 inches. The highesttotal for the month was 7.50 inches recorded at Kenton. Ft. Cobb trailed allothers with a meager tenth of an inch. Adding the rains of June and July thrustthe summer a bit above normal at 10.39 inches. For the year, the running totalremained below normal by more than an inch and ranked as the 58^thdriest such period on record.

Temperature

The warmth was somewhatatypical of recent Augusts, but with dry weather dominating, it was notunexpected. A large part of the state finished 2-3 degrees above normal for themonth. A few pockets of cool air were found in the rainiest parts of the state,but those areas were still less than a degree below normal. Excessive heat inJune and August overwhelmed a normal July and allowed summer to finish morethan 2 degrees above normal. The southeast was nearly 4 degrees above normal torank as the eighth warmest summer on record for that region, helped by its fifthwarmest August. The January-August period managed to creep above normal finallyby a tenth of a degree, the 48^th warmest such period on record.

August Daily Highlights

August 1-3: Augustbegan hot with highs in the 100s across most of the state for the first threedays thanks to an upper-level ridge of high pressure. Low temperatures were abit more reasonable in the upper 60s and 70s, but little relief was felt in theafternoons as heat indices climbed to near 110 degrees in parts of the state.

August 4-8: Aslow-moving cold front brought the state some relief on the fourth. The front providedsome cooler air and a focus for showers and storms for a few days. Thenorthwest had isolated areas with nearly 2 inches of rainfall thanks to a fewthunderstorms. Those storms also produced high winds and hail for briefperiods. Temperatures were about 15 degrees cooler behind the front with 80sfor highs. Storm totals in the northeast also approached 3 inches on theseventh while a few spots in the southeast had up to 2 inches. Still, most ofthe state was brutally hot during this period with 100s for highs and excessiveheat indices.

August 9-13: Thisfive-day period was pure summer with hot days and nights. Lows were generallyin the upper-70s with a few 80s at times. Highs were generally in the upper-90sto triple-digits. Freedom once again hit 109 degrees on the 13^th.Very little rain fell during this time, and heat indices were oppressive eachday.

August 14-18: Acold front and a couple of upper-level disturbances provided a bit of relieffor the state. The front entered the northwest on the 14^th andimmediately generated a few showers and storms. The storms helped cool thenorthwest down while areas to the south remained in the 100s. The cold frontsagged farther south on the 15^th and the northwest basked in 70-80degree weather while enjoying some nice rains. A couple of upper-leveldisturbances over the next couple of days brought more rainfall to parts of thestate following the action due to the cold front. Northern Oklahoma benefitedover this five-day period with over 5 inches of rainfall in localized areaswith surrounding 3-5 inch amounts. Temperatures remained out of triple-digitson the 17^th and 18^th, and northern Oklahoma had 80s onthose days. The rains brought some cool weather to the far northwest on the 15^thand 16^th. Highs in the northwest on those days remained in the 70s.

August 19-23: Verylittle rain fell during this five-day period, although totals of more than aninch were found across far southern Oklahoma and parts of the Panhandle.Temperatures soared above 100 degrees over much of the state on these days andheat indices were in the 105-110 degree range. A wet microburst hit Norman onthe 21^st with winds of up to 80 mph and very heavy localizedrainfall. Some damage was reported in that city due to the high winds. 

August 24-31:  A strong cold front on the 24^th brought thestate a much-needed cool down. The front also generated showers and storms thatdropped more than 4 inches of rain at Shawnee. Other areas up and down southI-35 had from 1-2 inches. The front dropped temperatures into the 70s in theafternoon and brought northerly winds gusting to 45 mph. The next few days werevery pleasant with cooler temperatures and dry air. Ft. Supply reached 41degrees on the 25^th to set a record low for August for thatlocation. Temperatures crept up to the 80s and 90s again by the 28^th.An upper-level trough in the lee of the Rockies kicked up the southerly flowand August once again felt like summer for the last few days of the month.Highs on those days were near 100 degrees and heat indices were well over thetriple-digit mark.

A mild July seemed in store for much of Oklahoma after arainy beginning but it would seem Mother Nature had other plans. The first partof the month brought rains, often times torrential downpours, which kepttemperatures on the mild side. A classic summertime pattern followed quicklythereafter, however, and left plenty of steamy, hot weather in its place. Whiletraditional severe weather culprits such as tornadoes, large hail and highwinds were scarce, flash flooding was not. Three deaths due to drowning werereported with the numerous instances of flash flooding across the state.

The result of the transition from wet-and-mild tohot-and-dry is reflected in the temperature data from the Oklahoma Mesonet. Thestatewide average temperature matched the normal reading at 81.6 degrees,ranking the month as the 52^nd warmest July since records began in1895.  The wet conditions early on buoyedthe statewide average precipitation total to 4.52 inches, 1.78 inches abovenormal to rank as the 16^th wettest July on record. SouthwesternOklahoma came in with its wettest July on record with an average rainfall of7.34 inches, more than 5 inches above normal. The Mesonet site at Hobartrecorded a whopping 14.28 inches of rain while Buffalo, which is currentlyexperiencing severe drought conditions, brought up the rear with 1.16 inches.

Even though actual air temperatures did not reach extremelevels during the month, the heat index was a different story. The highesttemperature for the month of 105 degrees was recorded by the Oklahoma Mesonetsites at Buffalo and Hooker. The heat index – or how hot the air feels whencombined with humidity – regularly exceeded 110 degrees from July 13-18. TheMesonet site at Nowata won the prize for most miserable day with a heat indexof 116 degrees on the 17^th.

Precipitation

The bounty experienced bymany parts of the state was not had by all. Extreme northwestern Oklahoma was abit on the dry side to rank as the 50^th driest July on record forthat region. Along with the southwest, west central Oklahoma had a wet time ofthings with an average total of well over 5 inches, more than 3 inches abovenormal and ranked as the 5^th wettest July on record. The season wasoff to a wet start with a June-July average across the state at well over 8inches, more than an inch above normal and the 33^rd wettest onrecord. That is once again buoyed by the moisture received by southwestern andwest central Oklahoma with rankings of 11^th- and 17^th-wettestfor the June-July period, respectively. The year thus far finished fairly closeto normal, if not a tad below normal, and ranked as the 48^th wettestJanuary-July period on record.

Temperature

Areas with abundant rainfalltended to be cooler, although that was not an absolute rule. Central Oklahomawas wetter than normal but also finished with perfectly normal to rank as the46^th warmest July on record for that area. The southwest fell morethan a degree below normal to rank as the 44^th coolest for thatarea. The season thus far was very warm with a statewide average of 81.1degrees, 2 degrees above normal and the 20^th warmest such period onrecord. The year was still on the cool side, however, and ranked as the 56^thcoolest on record.

July Daily Highlights

July 1-9: Deeptropical moisture from two Gulf storms provided the fuel for very heavy rainsover much of the state, especially for early July. Tropical storm Alex providedthe first round of drenching rainfall with another shot later from an unnamedstorm (tropical depression #2). Nearly a foot of rain fell in Hobart over thisperiod, including 6.39 inches on the sixth. Much of that rain fell very quicklyand produced extreme flash flooding. Southwest Oklahoma City was next on theeighth when very heavy rains fell in just a few short hours that floodedtroublesome Lightning Creek. Many areas of the state saw between 4-6 inches.The extreme northwest and the central Panhandle were largely left out of thisrainy period with less than an inch of rainfall in those areas.   The month’s lowest temperature of 55 degreesoccurred at Beaver on the sixth.

July 10-14:  The 10^th saw a brief break in therainy weather as showers from the night before dissipated. A few storms laterthat day contained strong winds and small hail. High temperatures were mostlyin the 80s. Showers and storms the next couple of nights brought additionalheavy rains to parts of the state. The sun came out during this period andproduced very uncomfortable weather due to all the moisture from previousrains. Highs in the 80s and 90s combined with the extreme humidity to produceheat indices in the 105-115 degrees range. The month’s highest temperature of105 degrees was first recorded on the 13^th at Buffalo and Hooker.

July 15-17: Asagging cold front that entered northwestern Oklahoma on the 15^thgave the only relief during this period. Showers and storms fired along thatfront and brought some nice rains to the northern one-fifth of the state, butthe remainder of Oklahoma stayed hot and dry. Highs were in the upper-90s andlow-100s while lows were generally in the upper-70s. The winds made for blastfurnace conditions, gusting to over 30 mph at times. The third instance of 105degrees was recorded at Buffalo on the 17^th.

July 18-23: Thissix-day period was, simply put, hot and muggy with very little in the way ofrainfall. Lows flirted with remaining in the 80s while highs were generally inthe mid-90s to lower-100s. A ridge of high pressure was the culprit, typicalfor late July.

July 24-28: Aweak frontal boundary allowed a bit of relief for a few locations, otherwisethe weather continued hot. Isolated storms along that boundary produced somesevere weather on the 24^th. Lows were in the mid-70s for the mostpart and the highs climbed into the 90s, although some 80s were scatteredaround, especially near the rainfall.

July 29-31: Themonth finished with blazing hot and dry weather. Highs in the 90s and 100s werecommon under blue skies as the summertime upper-level ridge of high pressuredominated the area.

The month’s final day saw afew showers and storms out in western Oklahoma. The rain totals were light butthe rain-cooled air was a welcome relief for some.

After a brief cool down to start the month, the persistently hot and humid weather that plagued Kentucky during June continued unabated through July, producing one of the hottest June-July periods in nearly 60 years. Temperatures were 1.5 to 4.5 degrees above normal with eastern Kentucky the coolest and areas along the Ohio River the warmest. As in June, there were no high temperature records set nor were there any days when themercury rose above 100°F due to the lush vegetation from abundant rainfall. However, temperatures routinely soared past 90°F nearly every afternoon unless clouds and thunderstorms conspired to keep temperatures in the 80s. The number of dayswith afternoon highs at or above 90°F in June and July was about three times the number from 2009 and was the highest since 1952. Despite the afternoon heat, morning low temperatures were actually much warmer relative to normal compared to afternoon high temperatures. For example, July 2010 was the 5^thwarmest in Bowling Green using minimum temperatures but only the 33^rdwarmest using maximum temperatures. Louisville suffered through three consecutive nights from the 23^rd to the 25^th where overnight temperatures stayed in the 80s.  These temperatures reflected an urban heat island effect, as temperatures in outlying areas were in the low to mid 70s. Also as in June, rainfall for the month was highly variable and ranged from 30 to 200% of normal. With the ever present tropical airmass and very subtle atmospheric forcing due to a lack of strong cold fronts, thunderstorms were typically widely scattered and featured heavy localized downpours. Paducah was among the driest spots with just over an inch of rain while locations incentral Kentucky including Monroe and Larue counties picked up over eight inches of rain. Dating back to May, counties along the Tennessee border have received over 20 inches of rain, which marks the second straight year that the May-July period has seen near-record rainfall in this area.

Severe weather caused extensive damage and loss of life during the month.  Pike County was declared a federal disaster area after a flash flood claimed 2 lives and caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure on July 17^th.  Damage was estimated in excess of $10million. On the same evening, a severe thunderstorm and associated micro burst with winds estimated at up to 90 mph caused damage in Shelby County.  Again, on July 20^th and 21^st, severe storms led to flash flooding that took 1 life and caused widespread property and infrastructure damage in northeastern Kentucky.  State disaster declarations were made for Carter,Elliott, Lawrence, Lewis, Mason, and Rowan Counties.

 ~ Greg Goodrich

Summer 2010 got off to an early start in Kentucky aspersistent hot and humid weather made June feel more like August. Temperatures were four to seven degrees above average for the month and the high humidity made it feel even warmer. Several locations set records for the hottest Juneever, including Louisville, Jackson, and London, while most other locations ranked in the top ten. Very few record high temperatures were set during June, although numerous record warm lows were set. Bowling Green set three consecutive record warm lows from the 12^th-14^th, as nighttime temperatures never fell lower than the mid- to upper-70s. High temperatures rarely surpassed the mid-90s, as the above average soil moisture from the historic rainfall from early May combined with abundant springtime vegetation combined to keep daytime temperatures from approaching 100 degrees. While the heat was never extreme on a given day, the persistence of the heat was unusual for June. Temperatures were above average for the first 29 days of the month until a strong cold front brought relief from the heat on the 30^th. Rainfall for the month was highly variable and ranged from 50 to 150% of normal. Convective thunderstorms from the tropical air mass that was stuck over the Commonwealth produced the highly variable rainfall amounts. The heaviest rainfall of around seven inches was located along the Ohio River although  isolated locations elsewhere in the state received similar amounts from slow-moving thunderstorms. The most variation in precipitation was in south-central Kentucky, where rainfall ranged from over six inches in Bowling Green to less than two inches in Barren County less than 30 miles away. Most ofthe rainfall that fell in June occurred from the 8^th-19^th,a period that included numerous strong to severe storms. An EF0 tornado occurred in Adair County with little damage on the 9^th.

The wettest June on record was in 1902 with 8.4 inches of rainfall. Statewide records extend back to 1895.

The largest rainfall totals occurred in the northern two-thirds of the state where amounts of 7 to 13 inches were common. Meanwhile, far southern Illinois remained closer to normal with amounts ranging from 3 to 6 inches.

Some long-term precipitation gauge sites set records fortheir wettest June. These include Galesburg with 13.24 inches, Havana with 10.58 inches, and Lincoln with 10.79 inches.

The statewide average temperature for June was 74.9 degrees, 3 degrees above normal. Based on preliminary data, this is the tenth warmest June. The warmest June on record was in 1934 with 78.5 degrees.

Of the 10 wettest Junes in Illinois history, in 7 out of 10 cases rainfall returned to within an inch of normal in July and August. Only in 1993 did the wet conditions persist during the next two months. Drier conditions occurred in July and August only in 1945 and 1947.

"This June had both near-record rainfall and much warmer than normal temperatures. That’s very unusual considering that in most cases, a wet June tends to run on the cool side," concludes Angel.

The Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, is the primary agency in Illinois concerned with water and atmospheric resources.  

A stretch of drier than normal weather that persisted since November for parts of central Kentucky ended in dramatic fashion as up to ten inches of rain fell over the first two days of May 2010.The record-breaking rainfall was quickly followed by historic flooding along many rivers in Kentucky that in some cases took weeks to fall below flood stage. The two-day storm shattered one- and two-day rainfall records in many places and monthly totals approached all-time records for May. Recurrence intervals across south-central Kentucky were estimated to be as high as 200-years for counties along the Tennessee border. Bowling Green was hardest hit with 10.14” received at the Warren County Mesonet station. Nearly five inches of rain fell each day in Bowling Green which ranks as the 6^th(4.92”) and 8^th (4.75”) highest daily rainfall totals since 1900. This storm was notable in that while most of the previous one- and two-day record rain events in the region were produced by systems that were tropical in origin, the May 1-2 storm was extratropical in nature. A ridge of high pressure along the East Coast allowed low- and upper-level winds to be essentially parallel, which allowed a cold front to stall out over the region. A strengthening pressure gradient produced a moist low-level jet out of the Gulf of Mexico while waves of energy aloft led to repeated bursts of heavy rainfall that at times exceeded 2 in/hr. Socioeconomic impacts of the storm included widespread river flooding that resulted in numerous school cancellations. At least five people were killed across central Kentucky and damage estimates surpassed $30 million.

Temperatures for May were well above normal rangingfrom 3-5 degrees above average. Much of May featured summer-like heat with high humidity and temperatures well into the 80s on most days. The exceptions were asharp cooldown on the 8-10^th which kept highs in the lower 60s and a stretch of near-normal weather on the 15-21^st that kept temperatures in the 70s. The warmest day was the 23^rd which pushed some locations to their first 90-degree day of the year. Aside from the first two days of May, rainfall for the month was relatively light. Around an inch of rain fell on the16^th and 1-2 inches fell on the 20-21^st, primarily along the Ohio River. Monthly totals ranged from 120% of normal in far western Kentucky to over 200% of normal along a line stretching from south-central Kentucky to the Bluegrass region. Severe weather was not common except for a pair of weak tornadoes that occurred in Monroe County on the 2^nd and Breckinridge/Hardin county on the 21^st. Drought conditions that were present at the end of April in the Bluegrass region were ameliorated by the heavy rainfall at the beginning of May.

Drier than normal weather continued for the 6^thconsecutive month over parts of central Kentucky during April 2010 as temperatures soared well above normal. The area extending from Bowling Green to Lexington has accumulated rainfall deficits approaching 12 inches dating back to the beginning of November, ranking this among the driest such periods on record. The lack of rainfall and above average temperatures have caused the National Drought Mitigation Center to expand the region of central Kentucky considered abnormally dry and to place a small part of the Bluegrass inmoderate drought status. Statewide temperatures ranged from 4-6 degrees above normal. For Louisville it was the 2^nd warmest April on record, while for Lexington it was the 6^th warmest. Precipitation was below normal statewide with amounts ranging from 60-100% of normal. The first week of the month was the warmest relative to normal as temperatures neared 90 degrees inparts of eastern Kentucky. A cold front on the 8^th ushered in a brief two-day cool down as a widespread 0.50-1.00” of rain fell statewide.Temperatures gradually rebounded into the middle 80s by mid-month before another weak cold front brought another brief two-day cool down with light rainfall. After another rebound in temperatures, a stronger cold front brought heavy rainfall and severe weather primarily to the western half of Kentucky on the 24^th. Over two inches of rain fell in south-central Kentucky, although rainfall amounts of around an inch were more common elsewhere. Christian and Todd counties experienced a microburst and EF0 tornado that produced mainly tree damage along with some minor damage to barns and houses. A persistent upper-level storm brought clouds, showers, and below average temperatures from the 25^th-28^th before a warm up ended the month.

The below article segment was copied from http://www.wku.edu/news/releases10/april/mesonet.html .  Please follow the link to see full article.

Bowling Green, Ky. - The Kentucky Mesonet has received a Best of Kentucky Technology Award for “Best Application Serving Public Agencies.”

The award was presented Tuesday in Frankfort during the Kentucky Digital Government Summit.

“We are very honored to be recognized as one of the best technological applications in state government,” said Mike Grogan, lead systems architect for the Kentucky Mesonet. “From the start of the Kentucky Mesonet program, our primary goal has always been to build something positive and beneficial for the entire Commonwealth. We feel this award confirms that our efforts for and dedication to the people of Kentucky is on-target.”

Temperatures across the state continued to be significantly cooler than normal.  In Atlanta,the monthly average temperature was 50.7 degrees F (3.6 degrees below normal), in Athens 51.6 degrees (1.9 degrees below normal), Columbus 52.3 (5.3 degrees below normal), Macon 52.6 (3.6 below normal), Savannah 55.6 (3.7 below normal), Brunswick 55.8 (4.6 below normal), Alma 54.8 (6.4 below normal), Valdosta 56.6 (3.3 below normal) and Augusta 52.8  (3.1 below normal).   No daily temperature records were set this month.

 Most of the state received received at least 2 inches of rain, and a few areas received over 6 inches of precipitation.  These amounts included the water equivalent of snow, which fell in northern Georgia early in the month.

source:www.weather.gov

 
The highest monthly total from National Weather Service reporting stations was 4.24inches in Atlanta (1.14 inches below normal) and the lowest was in Athens at 2.39 inches (2.60 below normal). Valdosta received 3.42 inches (2.01 below normal), Macon 3.49 inches (1.41 inches below normal), Brunswick 2.45 (1.48 below normal), Augusta3.20 (1.41 below normal), Columbus 3.83 (1.92 below normal), Savannah 2.72 (0.92 below normal) and Alma 2.79 (2.01 inches below normal). 

One daily rainfall record was set in March at Alma, where the daily rainfall of 2.02 inches on March 11 broke the old record of 1.24 inches set in 1968.    

Source: www.weather.gov

The highest monthly totals from CoCoRaHS stations were 7.48  inches near Acworth northwest of Atlanta in  Cherokee County, followed by three reports of over 7 inches near LaGrange in Troup County.  The highest one-day amount occurred in LaGrange on March 11,when 5.02 inches was reported by one observer. Several inches of snowfall were observed on March 2-3 north ofInterstate 20 across north Georgia, including a daily total of 5 inches at Dillard in Rabun County.  The snow caused minor traffic accidents and some school closings across north Georgia.

There was one tornado reported in Georgia in March.  A small tornado hit Dooly County near Unadilla on March 12, resulting in minor tree and building damage. Hail and wind also affected the north central region of Georgia on March 21 and east central Georgia on March 28, causing tree damage and minor roof damage to a barn.

During March, the drier conditions improved soil moisture levels  somewhat by the end of the month, although a wet spell in mid-March slowed this progress for a few days.  Cold temperatures continued to slow growth of forage, causing farmers to supplement feed at additional costs, and also inhibited seed germination for some crops.

Prepared by Pam Knox, Assistant State Climatologist

Temperatures rebounded across Kentucky during March 2010 as a statewide three month cold snap was broken. Temperatures weregenerally 1-2 degrees above normal with locations along the Ohio River experiencing the warmest temperatures relative to normal. The month started cool and dry through the 6th before a gradual warming trend pushed temperatures well into the 70s around the 10-11^th. A cold front brought mainly light rain to the Commonwealth on the 11-12^th. The rest of the month featured temperatures that never strayed more than a few degrees above or below normal with slightly warm periods alternating with slightly cool periods every three to five days. The exception was the last day of the month which featured temperatures soaring to near 80 degrees. Ironically, the 31^st also had one of the coolest mornings of the month, and some locations experienced more than a 40 degree difference between the morning low and afternoon high.  Precipitation was heaviest in western Kentucky, where Paducah experienced 100% of normal rainfall. Rainfall amounts fell off quickly towards the east with the Bluegrass region only receiving 25% of normal. In addition to the 11-12^th,rainfall occurred statewide on the 21^st, 25-26^th and 28^th,with precipitation generally heaviest in the far western portion of the state. The only measurable snow to fall statewide occurred in the higher elevations of eastern Kentucky on the 3^rd where a dusting occurred. Flurries occurred on a few other occasions as late as the 26^th. After one of the wettest years on record, the central portion of Kentucky, including Louisville, Lexington, and Bowling Green, has experienced five consecutive months of below normal rainfall. For this area, precipitation is around 5-10 inches below normal for the November to March time period which ranks among thetop 10 driest such periods. The extended dry weather has led the National Drought Mitigation Center to classify the Bluegrass region as “abnormally dry”,which can be a precursor to drought.

In his announcement, Kelly expressed some uncertainties about certain aspects of the USCRN data, which I would like to address below.
---------------

Kelly:Some of the info is only updated (either at the platform or at the NCDCingestsite) once an hour.  So, for example, wecannot seem to find 5 minute wind mean/max, but only hourly.

Also,there do not seem to be 5-minute winds, but only hourly means, and a single peak gust for the whole hour, rather than for each 5-minute period, the way one would usually do this.  Also, there is scalar speed but no direction (we've never been sure why, because thisis sosimple to add), so the wind roses all come up blank. (Wind, and some of the other stuff, is not a primary measurement ... these are intended as diagnostics of temp and precip calues.)

USCRN:  Wind data have not been transmitted or archived at the 5-min interval during the history of the program.  In addition, wind direction measurements are not taken at USCRN sites. The hourly wind speed observations are not taken at 10 m heights like is typical, but at the height of the air intake to the aspirated platinum resistance thermometers,typically about 1.5 m above the ground.  These data are most useful for understanding wind influences on temperature and precipitation measurements, as Kelly mentioned parenthetically, and they are not really comparable to wind data from other networks.  In addition, infrared surface temperature and global solar radiation are also only available as hourly means or statistics.  In the future, some of these variables may be sampled at the 5-minute rate, but a decision has not been taken on this issue currently.

With regards to data updates, the USCRN station platforms transmit data hourly in three hour blocks of time (redundancy in case of a rare dropped transmission), so true latency depends on the time not only in processing the transmissions, but how far from the beginning of the hour the transmission takes place.  USCRN and USHCN-M are essentially near-real-time platforms, but not real time.
----------------

Kelly:The nomenclature can be tricky and we are trying to come up with asyntax thatapplies to all types of platforms and data recording methodologies.  This is not easy.  Forinstance, we may wish to obtain the longterm statistics (max, min, mean) of the maximum minimum 5-minute mean(oversome defined interval), or some such thing.

The basic temperature is called Mean Temperature (because it is a 5-minute mean).  We cannot seem to find the max and min temperature within that basic 5-minute reporting interval (which is usually what we call Max Temp and Min Temp). So, what is called Max and Min temp are actually *hourly* max and min of the 12 5-minute mean temps.

USCRN: At the individual platinum resistance thermometer(PRT) level, only the 5-minute mean temperatures are retained and transmitted to NCDC.  There is no maximum or minimum for each 5-minute period.  However, a maximum or minimum temperature for the hour is calculated not from the125-minute means, but from a 5-minute window that is moved in 10-sec steps.  Therefore, the maximum and minimum temperatures for each PRT and hour are based on 360 possible 5-minute intervals during the hour. Finally, the official hourly temperature values for a station are derived by considering observations from all three PRTs in a complicated algorithm that also looks at fan speeds, pair-wise comparisons, and other system indicators, choosing the median of the available measurements.
----------------

Kelly:One other thing, for precip, we pull the full precision, and can bin incrementally or in accumulated format, and don't have to worry about 5-minute round off if we don't feel like it.

USCRN:  Fullprecision being pulled from USCRN is tenths of millimeters. In the WRCC product, many decimal places are preserved, related to the conversion from metric to English units.
----------------

Kelly:There are many ways to create an hour from 5-minute data, many ways of creating a day from sub-daily or sub-hourly data, and many ways of creating a month or a year, as well. Our goal is to eventually make this as explicit as possible, and also leave all these decisions to user control.

USCRN:  It is useful for users to have flexibility in calculating accumulated valuesfrom5-minute data.  However, many users simply need an hourly, daily, or monthly value that is provided without need for considering calculation rules.  We will be working with the WRCC to provide the option for users to select the hourly, daily, and monthly values for certain variables as they are directly calculated by USCRN.  For the moment,users may find some small differences between USCRN hourly, daily, and monthly observations and the ones calculated directly by the sub-hourly tool at WRCC.
----------------

We appreciate this effort to move USCRN and USHCN-M data to the user community, including the work done at the WRCC, and hourly USCRN products now available at the MRCC.  We will work to coordinate activities so as to ensure data are comparable through these various portals, and that the user may choose the interface that is most convenient for a given purpose.

Mike Palecki, USCRN

Temperatures across the state were much cooler than normal.  In Atlanta,the monthly average temperature was 39.6 degrees F (7.1 degrees below normal), in Athens 39.5 degrees (6.5 degrees below normal), Columbus 42.5 (7.8 degrees below normal), Macon  42.5 (6.4 below normal), Savannah 46.2 (6.2 below normal), Brunswick 47.4 (6.8 below normal), Alma 45.5 (9.3 below normal), Valdosta 47.8 (6.0 below normal) and Augusta 42.1(6.3 below normal).  In spite of the persistent cold temperatures across the state, no daily temperature records were set this month.

The cold average monthly temperatures put stations across most of the state in the top five coldest Februarys on record.  The state as a whole recorded an average temperature of 42.4 degrees, the 6th coldest since records began in 1895.  The last time Georgia experienced a February this cold was in 1978, when the state average temperature was  40.8 degrees.

 Most of the state received received over 3inches of rain, and scattered areas received over 6 inches of precipitation.  These amounts included the water equivalent of snow, which affected large areas of the state in the first half of February.

source:www.weather.gov

 
The highest monthly total from National Weather Service reporting stations was 4.74 inches in Valdosta (0.19 inches above normal) and the lowest was in Brunswick at 1.96 inches (1.54 below normal).  Atlanta received 4.17 inches (0.51 below normal), Macon 3.07 inches (1.48 inches below normal), Athens 4.22 (0.17 below normal), Augusta 2.37 (1.74 below normal), Columbus 3.52 (0.92 below normal), Savannah 3.25 (0.33 above normal) and Alma 2.45 (1.48 inches below normal). 

Daily rainfall records were set during February for Athens (2.55 inches on February 5) and Brunswick (0.93 inches on February 12).  Record daily snowfalls were also reported in Atlanta (1.0 inch), Athens (1.0 inch), Columbus (1.5 inches), Macon (trace), and Savannah (0.9 inches) on the 12th.  This was the first snowfall in Savannah since 0.2 inches fell in 1996.    

Source: www.weather.gov

The highest monthly totals from CoCoRaHS stations were 8.04 inches northeast of Smyrna and 7.62 inches southeast of Smyrna, both in Cobb County.  The highest one-day amount occurred in Snellville on February 5, when 3.56 inches were observed, and widespread amounts in excess of 2 inches were reported on that date.  Smyrna received 3.48 inches on February 7. The highest one-day amount from a CoCoRaHS observer was 5.8 inches measured in Washington on February 13, and amounts greater than 4 inches were reported throughout north Georgia during that storm. A high-resolution image of the snow cover on February 14 is shown below.

The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring site at Tiger in Rabun County reported 6.50 inches for February.

There were no tornadoes, hail or high winds reported in Georgia in February.  Minor flooding was reported in some streams on February 8.

Snow caused the early closing of schools and businesses on February 12 and numerous accidents were reported that evening.  Delta cancelled 1100 flights across the country and AirTran cancelled 69 flights out of Atlanta as a result of the bad weather.
 
The continuing cold weather increased heating demands in February across the state.  It also affected landscapers and home gardeners, who have not been able to start theirspring planting due to the cold soil temperatures and wet conditions. A strawberry and blueberry farm in Oconee County said they had  spent over $10,000 on floating row covers to protect their crops from the inclement weather.  However, some landscapers said they had picked up increased work on implementing drainage solutions for some homeowners due to the saturated soils.
 
During February, the drier conditions improved soil moisture levels somewhat by the end of the month. This allowed farmers to start their spring field work.  However, cold temperatures continued to slow growth of forage, causing farmers to supplement feed at additional costs.

A summary of the 2009-2010 winter can be found by clicking here.

Prepared by Pam Knox, Assistant State Climatologist

February 2010 was the third consecutive cold and dry month for much of Kentucky, which allowed the long-range forecast of a cold and dry winter for Kentucky issued by the Climate Prediction Center in October 2009 to verify completely. A moderately strong El Niño kept most of the storms to the south of Kentucky during the winter and a historically negative Arctic Oscillation brought numerous bouts of arctic air into the region. While precipitation for the winter was well below normal for most places, the very cold air allowed for above average snowfall statewide, increasing eastward from about 10 inches in Paducah to 50 inches in Jackson, which was a new record. The dominant El Niño storm track for the winter brought storms along the Gulf Coast that then turned northeast along the East Coast, which allowed eastern Kentucky to receive far more snowfall than the rest of the state. In general, the winter of 2009-10 was the coldest and snowiest since the brutal winters of the late1970s and mid 1980s for many places in Kentucky.

            February featured two main cold snaps that helped to keep temperatures 5 to 8 degreesbelow normal for the month. The first cold snap extended from the 7^thto the 19^th and contained two snowstorms. The first snowstorm on the 8-9^th brought a widespread 4-8” of snow statewide while the second snowstorm on the 14-15^th brought snowfall that ranged from 2” near the Tennessee border to around a foot near the Ohio River in central Kentucky.The back-to-back snowstorms pushed monthly snowfall totals in Louisville and Lexington over a foot which ranked among the top five for February snowfall. The second cold snap ended the month from the 24-28^th and only featured light snowfall of around an inch or two. A brief warm-up interrupted the two cold snaps on the 20-22^nd, when temperatures rose into the middle 60s to around 70. The only heavy rain event occurred on the 5-6^thwhen between 0.50 to 1.50 inches fell.

Two significant ice storms and several heavy snows, including arecord-setting 13.5 inches in Oklahoma City during the historicChristmas Eve blizzard, have left Oklahomans wondering where the warmwinters of the past 20 years have gone. While Vancouver has had totruck snow in for their Olympic Games, Oklahoma and points even farthersouth have gotten a crash course in Midwestern-style winters.Oklahomans have no doubt enjoyed that string of warmer winters over thelast couple of decades. In fact, 14 of the previous 20 winters inOklahoma have been above the long-term average in temperature,including the all-time warmest in 1991-92 and the second warmest onrecord in 1999-00. That is not to say that every winter has been orshould be warmer than the last, of course. Natural variability stillplays a part in Oklahoma's weather conditions and always will. Evenduring this string of warmer winters, cold winters will stillmaterialize, such as the current winter and that of 2000-01. Naturalvariability at times leaves Oklahoma at the mercy of weather patternsfrom far-off parts of the world. That is exactly what has occurred thisseason as sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean andhigher-than-normal pressure over the North Pole has left us chilled ina seemingly perpetual gloom.

The 2009-10 El Niño event, previously forecast to be of moderateintensity, turned out to be the strongest since the 1997-98 "super" ElNiño. During a strong El Niño, the storm track shifts to the southduring winter and can bring more storm systems across the state. Alongwith those storm systems comes more cloudiness and precipitation. Thosetwo trends are evident in data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the state'sweather network. The statewide average precipitation total since thebeginning of climatological winter (December 1) through February 22stands at 5.26 inches, a third of an inch above normal and the 29thwettest winter since 1921. The totals from southern Oklahoma are muchhigher than normal, with southwestern Oklahoma experiencing its 11thwettest winter thus far. Similar totals exist for south central andsoutheastern Oklahoma. This is exactly the type of pattern expectedwith El Niño and the southerly shifted storm track.

A casualty of all that cloudiness and precipitation is sunshine, anddata from the Oklahoma Mesonet exemplifies that once again. TheMesonet's instruments that measure solar radiation have received a mere46.2 percent of possible sunshine this winter, the second-lowest totalsince the Mesonet began in 1994. Only the winter of 1997-98, the secondwettest on record and the "super" El Niño winter, was gloomier.

The impact on Oklahoma's temperatures has been to suppress thedaytime high temperatures much more than the lows. The average hightemperature from the Oklahoma Mesonet this winter has been nearly 6degrees below normal while low temperatures are less than 2 degreesbelow normal. The cloudiness helps block solar radiation during the daywhile trapping heat during the overnight hours. For the winter thusfar, the statewide average temperature was 34.6 degrees. OklahomaCity's lowest daily temperature this season has been 6 degrees, whichis certainly cold, but nowhere near the sub-zero temperatures seen inits past. The coldest daily temperature reported during Oklahoma City'srelatively warm winter last year was also 6 degrees.

Another culprit responsible for our cold winter is a phenomenonknown as the Arctic Oscillation (AO), which can shift between negativeand positive phases during the span of a couple of weeks. When it is inthe negative phase, as it has been for much of the winter, highpressure over the North Pole deflects the bitterly frigid air from thatregion farther to the south into the interior of the United States.Temperatures in the Arctic region rise tremendously and those fartherto the south plummet. The values for the AO Index, which measures therelative strength of the AO, during December were the most negative forthat month since record keeping began in 1950, and have dropped to thatlevel again during February. Combine a strongly negative AO with astrong El Niño and you get the historic snows that much of the easternhalf of the United States has seen this winter, as well as those inOklahoma and Texas.

Even as the vagaries of Mother Nature conspire to give us a wintermore reminiscent of our past than our present, it is important toremember that a single season or year does not make a trend. Until theweather pattern changes, Oklahomans might see their Midwestern-stylewinter continue.

The Annual Meeting of the AASC is held each summer.  The 35th Annual Meeting of the American Association of State Climatologists will be held 12-15 July 2010, at the Embassy Suites,4130 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe, California 96150.

For more information visit
http://www.stateclimate.org/meetings/

NOAA launches www.climate.gov as portal for climate science and services

full article can be found at
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100208_climate.html

February 8, 2010

"Individuals and decision-makers across widely diverse sectors –from agriculture to energy to transportation – increasingly are asking NOAA for information about climate change in order to make the best choices for their families, communities and businesses. To meet the rising tide of these requests, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the intent to create a NOAA Climate Service line office dedicated to bringing together the agency’s strong climate science and service delivery capabilities."

NOAA Launches Landmark Climate.gov Portal

"NOAA is also unveiling today a new Web site – http://www.climate.gov– that serves as a single point-of-entry for NOAA’s extensive climate information, data, products and services. Known as the NOAA Climate Portal, the site addresses the needs of five broadly-defined user groups: decision makers and policy leaders, scientists and applications-oriented data users, educators, business users and the public."

A winter to remember continued for eastern Kentuckyin January 2010. Over 17 inches of snow fell on Jackson for the 2^ndconsecutive month, making this the 2^nd snowiest December-Januaryperiod on record. Eastern Kentucky also experienced average temperatures thatwere 3-5 degrees below normal and ranked among the top ten coldest for January.The rest of the state was also much colder than normal with temperaturesaveraging around 3 degrees below normal. What was notable was the see-sawpattern of temperature extremes that occurred during the month. The first twoweeks of January featured persistent arctic air that pushed daily temperaturesas far as 20 degrees below normal. The coldest days occurred from the 8^th-10^thas temperatures approached zero at night and only rose into the teens duringthe day. Light snow fell across the state on several occasions as arctic coldfronts brought repeated bouts of very cold air. Many places had stretches ofsub-32°F weather than persisted for as many as ten consecutive days, whichapproached or tied the all-time record for such a sub-freezing streak. The nexttwo weeks of the month were very warm and wet with temperatures soaring morethan 20 degrees above normal for a couple of days. Moderate to heavy rainfalloccurred on the 16-17^th, 20-21^st, and 24^th.The month ended with a return to arctic air and moderate snowfall for much ofthe state on the 29-30^th. Western and central Kentucky received awidespread 4-6 inches of snow from the storm while eastern Kentucky received asmuch as a foot. The entire state had snowfall that was above average. BowlingGreen received over 8 inches of snow, which was the most during January since1985. Despite the above average snowfall, precipitation was slightly belownormal for much of the state with the exception of eastern Kentucky.

Temperatures across the state were significantly cooler than normal.  In Atlanta,the monthly average temperature was 38.5 degrees F (4.2 degrees below normal), in Athens 39.7 degrees (2.5 degrees below normal), Columbus 41.6 (5.2 degrees below normal), Macon 42.2 (3.3 below normal), Savannah 45.5 (3.7 below normal), Brunswick 47.0 (4.7 below normal), Alma 45.6 (6.1 below normal), Valdosta 47.9 (2.0 below normal) and Augusta 41.7 (3.1 below normal).  Low temperature records were set in Brunswick (26 F) on January 4 and in Alma (22 F) on January 7.

Rainfall across the southern half of the state was well above normal in December, according to radar estimates.Many areas south of the fall line from Columbus to Augusta and in the northeast mountains received over 5 inches of rain. 

source:www.weather.gov

The highest monthly total from National Weather Service reporting stations was 6.74inches in Valdosta (0.37 inches above normal) and the lowest was in Brunswick at 4.33 inches (0.47 above normal).  Atlanta received 5.38 inches (0.35 above normal), Macon 5.50 inches (0.50 inches above normal), Athens 6.20 (1.51 above normal), Augusta5.39 (0.89 above normal), Columbus 5.35 (0.57 above normal), Savannah 6.28 (2.33 above normal) and Alma 4.74 (0.47 inches above normal). 

Daily rainfall records were set during January for Atlanta (2.75 inches on January 24), Columbus (1.02 inches on January 16), and Macon (1.41 inches on January 21). 

Source: www.weather.gov

The highest monthly totals from CoCoRaHS stations were 9.65 inches northeast of Fort Gaines in Clay County and 9.56 inches near Dillard in Rabun County in far northeast Georgia. The highest one-day amount occurred in Statesboro on January 17,when 4.40 inches were observed north of town.  Albany received 4.00 inches on January 21 and La Grange reported 3.98 inches on January 25.

The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring site at Dawson in Terrell County reported 10.94 inches and in Plains they received 9.33 inches for the month.

Georgians experienced two days of severe weather in January.  On January 21, a weak tornado occurred in Charleton County and caused minor damage to a post office and several trees. A CoCoRaHS observer in Loganville also reported quarter-sized hail on January 21.  Tornado warnings were also issued on January 24 in some areas of Georgia but only high winds were reported to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.

Sleet, ice and snow in northern Georgia in late January caused numerous accidents on highway and scattered power outages.  Part of I-20 was closed due to ice on the roads on January 29 near Atlanta.
 
The cold weather caused greatly increased heating demands in January.  Power companies estimated that heating costs were about 30 percent above normal for this time of year and 60 percent above demands for last winter.

Rivers in Georgia reported minor to moderate flooding on several dates throughout the month. The moderate flooding was mainly confined to the larger rivers below the fall line in central Georgia.

During January, the heavy rains in southern Georgia continued to cause problems for farmers trying to work in the fields.  Cool temperatures slowed or stopped growth of forage and farmers used hay and hay and supplemental feed heavily, particularly during the coldest spells.

Prepared by Pam Knox, Assistant State Climatologist

• Dry start to year: Record dry February (0.67" statewide), and driest January through March period on record dating back to 1895.
• Late-April heat: Unusually warm weather affects the state from April 25th-28th, with most of the state experiencing high temperatures in the low to mid 90s during this period.
• Cool and wet June: 6th wettest June on record (contributing to 5th wettest summer), and 1.7° below normal (25th coolest).
• July severe weather: Supercell thunderstorm traverses the north-central part of the state on July 26th, resulting in strong wind gusts exceeding 50 mph, quarter-inch to inch diameter hail in Hunterdon, Somerset, and Union counties, and a lightning-related fatality in Newark. On July 29th, an EF-2 tornado occurs near Wantage in Sussex County, which is the first confirmed tornado in Sussex County since August 1990 and the first F2/EF-2 tornado in NJ since May 2001.
• August Hunterdon County flash flood: Heavy rains exceeding 3 inches on August 2nd cause flash flooding in Hunterdon County, particularly in downtown Clinton.
• September hybrid storm: Coastal low on September 10th-11th results in three to five inches of rain in southern coastal NJ, and in combination with strong high pressure to the north, produces strong onshore winds and coastal flooding.
• October snow: Early-season snow occurs in the northwest portion of the state on October 15th, with higher elevations reporting several inches of accumulation.
• Veteran's Day Nor'easter: Slow-moving coastal storm produces persistently strong onshore winds, resulting in major damage to beaches and considerable flooding of some coastal communities.
• December snowstorm: An epic snow storm on Dec 19th-20th dropped up to two feet of snow on the southern half of the state.
• Record wet December: Wettest December on record, with the largest totals in southern NJ, where monthly reports approached or exceeded a foot in a few locations.

by Ken Scheeringa

Summary

A series of massive winter storms highlighted the national weather scene in December.  Indiana barely escaped the broad reach of these storms with weather impacts that were not unusual for this first month of winter.  Unlike recent months Indiana temperatures did not persist warmer or colder than normal for long periods of time but fluctuated widely and often with each passing storm system.  These rapid temperature changes slowed later in the month.  When all the warm and cold days were thrown into the mix the net result was a December with a statewide average temperature of 30.1F degrees, just 1F degree below normal.  This places December 2009 as the 42^nd coldest December on record since 1895. One year ago December averaged 29.0F degrees and in 37^th place while December 2005 was still colder at 26.8F degrees and placed 21^st among all Decembers.  But it was a chilly 19.3F degrees state average temperature in December 2000 that ranks near the top in 2^nd place.

December precipitation in Indiana typically changes to rain, freezing rain, snow, or sleet as temperatures swing above and below freezing.  This was also the case in December 2009 with many wintry mix events.  Monthly snowfall totals in counties near Lake Michigan ranged from 7 to 17 inches with wide variation over short distances.  Elsewhere 7 to 12 inches of snow fell in the remainder of northern Indiana, while 3 to 8 inches was recorded in central Indiana.  In southern Indiana snowfall totaled 3 inches or less.  December precipitation summed to near 2.9 inches in northern Indiana, 3.4 inches in central, and averaged from 3.1 to 4.1 inches across southern Indiana.  Overall statewide precipitation averaged 3.30 inches for the month, a quarter inch above normal.  This total ranks December 2009 as the 40^th wettest December on record since 1895. The previous two Decembers were among the wettest Decembers on record in Indiana.  December 2008 with its 5.13 inches ranks as the 8^th wettest December and December 2007 with 5.14 inches is the 7^th wettest since 1895.

The primary impact of adverse December weather in Indiana was numerous traffic accidents and fatalities caused by slick roads as precipitation alternated between liquid and frozen states.  Frigid temperatures and strong winds behind deep broad storm systems made repair of downed power lines a real challenge in communities across the state this month.

December 1^st– 7^th 

The warmth of November came to an abrupt end this week.  Near normal temperatures the first day of December were eclipsed by a strong cold front that barreled through Indiana the next day.  Statewide averaged temperatures dived to 10F degrees below normal on December 3^rd and 4^th as a high pressure system moved into the state behind this storm.  As the high center moved eastward an approaching new storm system stalled over Illinois. This allowed temperatures to recover a few degrees by the end of the week yet still below normal.  Overall for the week statewide temperatures averaged 4F degrees below normal.  Typically in the first week of December maximum temperatures range from 40F in the far north to 49F degrees in the south end of the state.  Minimums usually vary from 27F to 32F degrees north to south.

The early month cold front squeezed about a half inch of rain from the clouds statewide.  This was followed by three dry days as much colder air settled over Indiana. The second storm of the week produced a light mix of rain and snow on December 7^th.  For the week precipitation totaled about 0.4 inch in northern Indiana and 0.5 inch in central and southern sections.  On December 3^rd two CoCoRaHS reporters, at Patoka and Owensville in Gibson county, reported the highest one day totals for the week at 1.08 inch each.  Normally about 0.65 inch of precipitation would be expected in northern Indiana the first week of December, 0.60 inch in central, and 0.75 inch in southern Indiana.

Light rain changed to snow in the predawn hours of December 7^th.  Busy highways became slick as traffic turned the snow into sheets of ice.  A semi truck which came upon an earlier 4-car accident on I-65 near Frankfort struck and killed a motorist who had left his car to investigate the damage.

December 8^th– 14^th  

A massive storm system which occupied half the nation’s area and touched 46 states during its journey sent Indiana temperatures on a rollercoaster ride this week.  At the start of the week statewide averaged temperatures ran 3F degrees above normal in a warm wind flow ahead of this storm system.  On December 9^th the huge storm moved quickly from Colorado to Michigan, pulling a strong cold front across our state. Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph into the following day along with sharply falling temperatures.  Outside working conditions were miserable on December 10^th with temperature departures averaging 16F degrees below normal. A strong ridge of high pressure followed quickly behind the exiting low pressure center, gradually quieting the winds and allowing temperatures to quickly rebound.  By the end of the week state averaged temperatures had reached the warmest of the week, 10F degrees above normal and 26F degrees warmer than just 5 days earlier.  For the week statewide temperatures averaged about 2F degrees below normal.  Typically in the second week of December normal daily maximum temperatures would rangef rom 33F degrees to 46F degrees north to south across Indiana. Normal daily minimums would vary from 20F to 27F across the state. 

The huge storm system this week was comparable to a category2 hurricane.  While it caused blizzard conditions west of Indiana, light snow and blowing snow were the major impacts in our state.  In Laporte county near Lake Michigan 9 inches of snow fell this week while 2 to 3 inches was common elsewhere in the northern tier of counties.  Less than an inch fell in much of northern Indiana with little to no snowfall in central and southern areas. Despite the size and intensity of the storm the total precipitation this week was not unusually heavy in the colder air. Precipitation fell nearly every day. Waldron in Shelby county reported 1.78 inch on December 13^th, the highest one day precipitation amount for the week among all CoCoRaHS stations.  Overall total amounts for the week ranged from 1.0 inch in northern Indiana, 1.6 inch in central, to about 1.8 inch in the south.  Normal precipitation this week would vary from 0.6 in northern Indiana to about 0.9 inch in the south.

The strong winds on December 9^th caused power outages across Indiana.  Power crews struggled to return service to 10,000 homes and businesses while working in the cold blustery weather conditions.

December 15^th– 21^st    

Temperatures fell sharply across Indiana at the start of this week as a huge dome of high pressure expanded to cover the eastern two-thirds of the country.  Statewide averaged temperatures skidded to 11F degrees below normal on December 16^th.  The cold air did not stay long.  Just two days later temperatures recovered quickly to the plus side at 5F degrees above normal as the high center moved east and a new storm system approached Illinois.  This storm raced southeast where it merged with a stronger storm center in North Carolina.  The merged system exploded in intensity and became a major blizzard that paralyzed New England on December 20^th.  Back in Indiana another in a series of Alberta clipper systems this month swept the state carrying with it a wintry mix as the week came to an end.  Temperatures changed little the last few days of the week, averaging about 2F degrees above normal.  For the week temperatures averaged just 1F degree below normal.  In mid-December normal daily maximum temperatures vary from 32F to 39F degrees north to south across the state.  Typical daily minimums would range from 21F in northern Indiana to 26F degrees in the far south.

Precipitation in Indiana this week was much below normal.  The massive high pressure dome early in the week kept our state mostly dry.  Light amounts of mixed precipitation fell the last half of the week as fringe moisture that wrapped around the blizzard low traveled westward into eastern Indiana.  Clipper systems from Canada generally yield little moisture but the one late in the week did manage to drop the first inch snow of the season on central Indiana.  Precipitation totals for the week averaged around a quarter inch statewide, well below the half to three quarter inch amounts normally expected this week in December.  The heaviest snow total this week was 5 inches in the Fort Wayne and Auburn regions of northeast Indiana with 3 to 5 inches elsewhere in this northeast area.  In the rest of northern Indiana 2 to 3 inches of snowfall was common with 1 to 2 inches in most of central Indiana and less than an inch in the south.

There were many minor traffic accidents around Indiana due to repeated episodes of light freezing rain combined with snowfalls.  The light precipitation on roadways can be more dangerous than heavier snows as motorists are caught unaware of the very slick road conditions.

December 22^nd– 31^st    

For the third week in a row Indiana sidestepped the fury of a massive storm system, this time as a Christmas Day blizzard churned to our west.  While Oklahoma and Iowa were buried in snow drifts, our state experienced only fringe effects of light snowfall and moderate winds.  This storm was replaced a few days later on December 28^th by a brief first wave of cold Canadian air.  The high pressure system which ushered in the cold blast left quickly for the Atlantic coast.  As the year came to a close a more intense and possibly longer duration Arctic cold air mass rushed into Indiana and claimed the Midwest on December 31^st.

Temperatures around Indiana at the start of this final interval of 2009 were quite mild in the warm air sector ahead of the Iowa storm.  Statewide averaged temperatures in our state peaked at 13F degrees above the daily normals by December 24^th. Colder air filtered in behind the intense storm and by December 28^th Indiana temperature departures had fallen to7F degrees below normal.  A slow warm up the final days of the month lifted departures to 2F degrees below normal.  Overall for the ten days Indiana temperatures averaged 2F degrees below normal.  Usually near the end of December daily maximum temperatures would average from 32F to 42F degrees north to south across the state.  Daily minimums should vary from 20F in northern Indiana to 28F degrees in the far south.

With huge storms and unsettled weather all around Indiana precipitation fell on all but one day these last ten days of the month.  While nearly a half inch of moisture was recorded on Christmas Day only a few hundreths of an inch fell on the remaining days with precipitation.  For the interval precipitation totaled about 1.2 inch in northern Indiana and 0.9 inch in central and southern sections.  Typically during this time about 0.9 inch is expected around northern Indiana, 1.0 inch in central, and 1.1 inch in the southern third of the state. During the latter colder part of the interval precipitation arrived as snowfall.  For the ten days counties in the Lake Michigan snow belt received 6 to 9 inch totals.  Snow amounts were highly variable elsewhere across northern Indiana, ranging from 3 to 11 inches, depending on the location relative to the storm centers and wind blown snow.  Central Indiana amounts also ranged widely from 4 inches in some spots to 9 inches in others, although heaviest amounts were in western areas.  Snow in southern Indiana varied from nothing at all up to 3 inches.

Not surprisingly numerous vehicles slid off Indiana highways and interstates during the wintry mix of rain, freezing rain, and snow in the days just prior to Christmas.  Freezing rain was especially a problem across the northern half of Indiana on Christmas Eve until air temperatures warmed late in the day. As colder air returned to the state drivers seemed to have more trouble with the snowfall on December 28^th with several vehicle accidents and injuries reported.

December Summary

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         27.8              28.5         -0.7 

North Central     28.0              28.7         -0.7 

Northeast         28.0              28.6         -0.6 

West Central      29.5              30.4         -0.9    

Central           29.7              30.7         -0.9  

East Central      29.6              30.2         -0.6  

Southwest         33.5              34.5         -1.0 

South Central     32.6              34.5         -2.0  

Southeast         32.2              34.0         -1.8 

State             30.1              31.1         -1.0

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        2.74              2.66          0.09         103

North Central    2.82              2.79          0.03         101

Northeast        3.07              2.68          0.39         115

West Central     3.66              2.96          0.70         124

Central          3.40              2.99          0.41         114

East Central     2.97              2.87          0.10         103

Southwest        4.11              3.53          0.57         116

South Central    3.28              3.56         -0.28          92

Southeast        3.18              3.41         -0.23          93

State            3.30              3.06          0.24         108

Winter to date (same as December)

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         27.8              28.5         -0.7 

North Central     28.0              28.7         -0.7 

Northeast         28.0              28.6         -0.6 

West Central      29.5              30.4         -0.9    

Central           29.7              30.7         -0.9  

East Central      29.6              30.2         -0.6  

Southwest         33.5              34.5         -1.0 

South Central     32.6              34.5         -2.0  

Southeast         32.2              34.0         -1.8 

State             30.1              31.1         -1.0

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        2.74              2.66          0.09         103

North Central    2.82              2.79          0.03         101

Northeast        3.07              2.68          0.39         115

West Central     3.66              2.96          0.70         124

Central          3.40              2.99          0.41         114

East Central     2.97              2.87          0.10         103

Southwest        4.11              3.53          0.57         116

South Central    3.28              3.56         -0.28          92

Southeast        3.18              3.41         -0.23          93

State            3.30              3.06          0.24         108

2009Annual

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         49.3              50.2         -0.9   

North Central     49.0              49.8         -0.8 

Northeast         48.9              49.5         -0.5

West Central      51.3              51.9         -0.6

Central           51.0              51.5         -0.5 

East Central      50.5              50.7         -0.2 

Southwest         54.8              55.1         -0.3

South Central     53.5              54.5         -1.0

Southeast         53.0              53.7         -0.7 

State             51.3              51.9         -0.6 

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        43.34             38.01         5.33           114

North Central    42.49             38.19         4.30           111

Northeast        41.28             36.75         4.54           112

West Central     48.66             41.23         7.43           118

Central          45.54             40.74         4.80           112

East Central     37.17             39.23        -2.07            95

Southwest        54.65             45.56         9.09           120

South Central    54.64             45.70         8.94           120

Southeast        49.39             44.12         5.28           112

State            46.85             41.18         5.67           114

Rainfall across the entire state was well above normal in December,according to radar estimates. Many areas south of the fall line from Columbus to Augusta and in the northeast mountains received more than 10 inches of rain. 

source:www.weather.gov

The highest monthly total from National Weather Service reporting stations was 13.62 inches in Columbus (9.22 inches above normal) and the lowest was in Brunswick at 4.02 inches (1.19 above normal).  Atlanta received 9.10 inches (5.28 above normal), Macon 8.98 inches (5.05 inches above normal), Athens 8.87 (5.16 above normal), Augusta 8.97 (5.83 above normal), Savannah 10.71(7.90 above normal), Valdosta 7.45 (3.79 above normal) and Alma 7.51 (3.84 inches above normal). 

Augusta, Columbus and Savannah set rainfall records for the month.  Augusta surpassed their old record of 8.65 inches from 1981, Columbus passed  their old record of 9.39 inches from 1953 and Savannah beat their old record of 9.44 inches from 2007. Macon also reported their 3rd wettest December, falling just short of 10.39 inches from 1972.

Source: www.weather.gov

The highest monthly totals from CoCoRaHS stations were 16.27 inches  northeast of Fort Gaines in Clay County and 13.06 inches in Rabun County in far northeast Georgia. 

The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring site at Tiger in Rabun County reported 11.79inches, at Plains in Sumter County 13.85 inches, and in Georgetown in Quitman County 16.72 inches for the month.

Daily record maximum rainfalls occurred on December 2 across many areas of Georgia with the passage of a strengthening Gulf of Mexico low through the Southeast.  The highest daily record of 3.63 inches for December 2 was set at Columbus.  Record daily rainfalls were also measured at several locations on December 13, 14, and 18 in areas associated with warm fronts ahead of Gulf lows.

Several stations in Georgia set their annual rainfall records in 2009, including Columbus, with a preliminary annual total of 80.23 inches,washing away the old record of 73.22 inches set in 1964. Data for2009 are still being compiled and a final annual report will be issued later in January.

Temperatures across the state were mainly cooler than normal, with the exception of coastal cities.  In Atlanta,the monthly average temperature was 42.3 degrees F (3.1 degrees below normal),in Athens 42.0 degrees (2.8degrees below normal), Columbus46.1 (3.0 degrees below normal), Macon 45.9 (1.9 below normal), Savannah 52.0 (0.6 above normal), Brunswick 54.4 (0.2 above normal), Alma51.3 (2.3 below normal), Valdosta 51.4 ( 0.0 above normal) and Augusta45.6(1.3 below normal). There were no temperature records set in December.

Georgians experienced four days of severe weather in December. On December 2, four weak tornadoes occurred in central and southeast Georgia, including a tornado that injured two people 4 miles NNW of Bristol in Pierce County when a mobile home overturned.  Several other structures were damaged in the storms. Strong winds were reported across Georgia on December 8 causing scattered damage to trees and power lines.  Another tornado was reported on December 9 five miles NW of Gardi in Wayne County, damaging a mobile home and slightly injuring the resident.  Strong winds and some funnel clouds were also reported on December 14.

Rivers in Georgia reported minor to moderate flooding on several dates throughout the month.  The moderate flooding was mainly confined to the larger rivers below the fall line in central Georgia.

During December, the heavy rains across Georgia continued to cause problems for farmers trying to harvest hay and other crops.  Up to 71 percent of the soils were considered to have surplus moisture.  Wheat planting was down by up to 30 percent in some areas due to the inability of farmers to run equipment in the waterlogged fields.  Some areas still had up to 25 percent of their cotton to harvest, although yields of cotton that were already harvested were rated as excellent.

Prepared by Pam Knox, Assistant State Climatologist 

While the winter of 2009 got off to a fast start in many places in the United States with historic blizzards in the northern Plains and Northeast, most of Kentucky avoided much in the way of winter weather in December. Temperatures were colder than normal by a degree or two in most places although Bowling Green was slightly warmer than normal. Temperatures were variable throughout the month with periodic shifts from warmer than normal to colder than normal every few days. While no temperature records were set, a couple of the cold snaps were notable with low temperatures falling into the teens on the 4-6^th and again on the 10^th. The most notable warmup occurred in the days before Christmas when temperatures soared into the 60s. Precipitation was 75-100% of normal for much of the state, with the exception being eastern Kentucky which had precipitation as much as 140% of normal. Heavy rains of an inch or more occurred on the 2^nd, 8^th and most notably on Christmas Eve and Christmas in far western Kentucky,where as much as four inches fell along the Mississippi River. The heavy rainfall was associated with the historic blizzard that impacted the northern Plains. The only major snowfall occurred in eastern Kentucky and was associated with a nor’easter that brought historic snows to the Mid-Atlantic region. Over a foot of snow fell in Jackson with higher amounts in the mountains.The snowstorm contributed to a new December snowfall record for Jackson by over six inches. In all, measurable snow fell in Jackson on nine days during the month. Light amounts of snow fell on several occasions over the rest of the state, with the greatest frequency occurring over the Bluegrass region. For the year, temperatures in Kentucky were right around normal while precipitation was above normal, with several locations, including Bowling Green, Jackson, and Frankfort having top ten wettest years.

The final month ofclimatological autumn could not have been more different from the previous two –the unusually wet and cool September and October months were followed by adistinctly dry and warm November. The statewide average precipitation totalfinished more than 2 inches below normal, the 22^nd driest since1895. The statewide average temperature averaged nearly 5 degrees above normalfor the eighth-warmest November on record. The western two-thirds of the statewere exceedingly dry with most locations receiving less than a half of an inchof rainfall. Despite the warm and dry month, however, fall finished as the 15^thcoolest and 18^th wettest on record. The first 11 months of the yearwere on pace to finish a bit cooler and wetter and normal and ranked as the 57^thcoolest and 29^th wettest through November.

Precipitation

The entire state wassignificantly dry with deficits from a little under an inch in the Panhandle tonearly 4 inches in the southeast. The statewide average stood around a half onan inch. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Talihina led the way with 2.12 incheswhile Camargo brought up the rear with a barely-wet 0.05 inches. The fall endedwith nearly 12 inches of rainfall on average statewide, due mainly to abovenormal precipitation in the eastern half of the state. The western half of thestate was actually below normal for the season. That holds true for theyear-to-date total as well with below-normal totals in the western half asopposed to surpluses in the east. The southeast region of the state was morethan 12 inches above normal for January-November, the 6^th wettestsuch period on record for that area. In contrast, the Panhandle experienced its20^th driest period over a similar time frame.

Temperature

The statewide averagetemperature was 53.1 degrees and all areas of the state finished well abovenormal for the month. The highest temperature for the month was 89 degreesrecorded at four separate Mesonet sites over two days. The lowest temperaturewas 17 degrees at Beaver. Despite the warm November, the fall finished wellbelow normal by 1.6 degrees across the state on average. The year-to-dateperiod was a couple of tenths of a degree below normal.

November Daily Highlights

November 1-8: Thefirst eight days of the month were dry – not a drop of rain was recorded acrossthe state. Temperatures were above average for the most part despite a coupleof weak cool fronts. Low temperatures were generally in the 40s, with 30s and50s at times, and high temperatures were generally in the 70s. The month’shighest temperature of 89 degrees was recorded by the Oklahoma Mesonet sites atBuffalo, Slapout and Beaver on the sixth, and Woodward on the seventh.

November 9-10: Aslow-moving cold front entered the state from the north and kicked off showersand storms in north central Oklahoma. Low temperatures were 10 degrees abovenormal in the 50s. Highs later in the day on the ninth reached into the 70s.Highs on the 10^th were still seasonable in the 60s with even a few70s in the south.

November 11-17: The 11^th-13^th was warm with highs in the 70s forthe most part and lows in the 40s and 50s. A cold front on the 13^thbegan to enter northwestern Oklahoma just as an upper-level storm approachedfrom the west.  Light snow fell in thePanhandle on the 14^th with amounts generally less than 2 inchesscattered about. Showers and a few storms fired along the front on the 15^thafter it had become stationary in the south. More than an inch of rain fell inthe southeast. The upper-level storm hung around for a couple of days into the 17^ththat kept winds from the north and kept temperatures on the cool side. Lowsduring the latter half of this period were in the 30s with highs in the 40s and50s.

November 18-22:  Thefirst widespread freeze of the season occurred overnight on the 18^th.Lows in the 20s and 30s were common over the eastern two-thirds of the state.Warm air from the south helped temperatures rebound quite nicely into the 60sduring the afternoon. A stationary front moved in on the 19^th with southerlywinds ahead of the front to go along with temperatures in the 60s and 70s.Behind the front temperatures lagged in the 50s and 60s.  The cold front continued to move south on the20^th with light rain and drizzle forming after sunrise. The afternoonturned cloudy and cool with a few heavier showers popping up in easternOklahoma. Southerly winds returned on the 21^st into the 22^ndas a low pressure system formed in the Panhandle. That allowed temperatures toonce again warm into the 60s.

November 23-28:This five-day period was mostly warm but also windy. Low temperatures wereseasonably cool for the most part with high temperatures at times in the 60sand 70s. Very little rain fell during this period save for a few light showersin eastern Oklahoma.

November 29-30: The warmth of the previous few days was extinguished by a cold frontthat barreled through the state overnight on the 29^th. Light precipitationformed along the front with most areas seeing less than a half of an inch.Temperatures rebounded from the 40s and 50s on the 29^th to the 50sand 60s on the 30^th. High pressure at the surface led to sunny skiesand a pleasant end for the month.

Rainfall across the entire state was well above normal in December, according to radar estimates. Many areas north of the fall line from Columbus to  Augusta received more than 5 inches of rain. 

source: www.weather.gov

The highest monthly total from National Weather Service reporting stations was 13.62 inches in Columbus (9.22 inches above normal) and the lowest was in Brunswick at 4.02 inches (1.19 above normal).  Atlanta received 5.75 inches (1.65 above normal), Macon 3.87 inches (0.67 inches above normal), Athens 5.17 (1.46 above normal), Augusta 5.61 (2.93 above normal), Savannah 2.31 (0.09 below normal), and Alma 1.41 (1.16 inches below normal). 

Source: www.weather.gov

Many CoCoRaHS stations reported wet conditions during November due to Ida and other weather systems.  The highest monthly totals of 10.80and 10.46 inches were both reported in Rabun County in far northeast Georgia.  The highest one-day reports of 6.09 inches and 6.10 inches came from two observers in Monroe County in central Georgia onthe morning of November 11 with the passage of Tropical Storm Ida.

The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring sites at Tiger in Rabun County and at Gainesville in Hall County both reported 7.89 inches for the month.

Daily record maximum rainfalls occurred on November 10 with the passage of Ida.  At official NWS airport stations, Atlanta broke a daily maximum rainfall with an observation of 4.05 inches, Athens received 1.94 inches, Columbus received 5.44 inches and Macon 2.53 inches during this storm. on October 12. Alma also reported a daily record rainfall of 0.92 inches on the 22nd.

Because of the unusual rainfall in September, October and November, Athens,Atlanta, Macon and Columbus airports set their records for the wettest falls ever, based on each airport's period of record. Athens reported 24.13 inches, Atlanta 23.31 inches, Columbus 18.43 inches and Macon 20.94 inches in the three-month period.

Temperatures across the state were mainly near normal.  In Atlanta, the monthly average temperature was 53.8 degrees F (0.4 degrees above normal), in Athens 54.8 degrees (2.1degrees above normal), Columbus 55.4 (1.3 degrees below normal), Macon 55.6 (0.5 above normal), Savannah  59.4 (0.7 above normal), Brunswick 61.7 (0.1 above normal), Alma 58.3 (2.4 below normal) and Augusta 55.7 (1.2 above normal).  There were no temperature records set in November.

 Most of the state had not yet experienced a killing (28 degree F) freeze by the end of the month.

 Georgians did not experience any severe weather in November.

 The Department of Natural Resources reported there are more black bears roaming Georgia this year due to the large acorn crop caused by drought-stressed oak trees in 2008 and the rainy conditions this year which provided ample vegetation to fatten them up. They are predicting a record bear hunting season due to the increase in size and number of the bears.

 During November, the rains in northern Georgia due to Ida caused problems for farmers trying to harvest hay and other crops.  Some grub infestations were reported due to the wetness from Ida.  In the first and third weeks, dry conditions allowed good progress to be made on harvesting of peanuts, soybeans, and cotton.  Rain showers benefited the planting of small grains.

Prepared by Pam Knox, Assistant State Climatologist

Summary

When the calendar flipped from October to November so did Indiana weather!  While October 2009 entered Indiana weather history as one of the coldest and wettest of all Octobers on record, November 2009 will be remembered as one of the warmest and driest among Novembers.  The abundance of sunshine the first half of this month was a delight as November in Indiana has a reputation as being typically cloudy, dark, and unpleasant.

Residents enjoyed a 20 day warm spell from November 6^th through the 25^th when statewide average temperatures remained above normal each day.  The warmth lifted November 2009 into a tie with 2003 as the 9^th warmest November in114 years of state records.  The November 2009 state averaged temperature was 46.2F degrees, while the normal is 42.4F degrees.  The most recent warmer November occurred in 2001 which placed 3^rd in the record books and was 3Fdegrees warmer than the current November. The only other warmer November in recent years was 1999 which holds 5^thplace.

The nearly dry first half of this month set November on pace to become one of the driest on record. Indeed November 2009 ranks as the 16^th driest of all Novembers in the state record books.  The state averaged precipitation this month was 1.52 inch, much below the normal 3.59 inches.  The most recent November drier than this year was ten years ago in 1999 which placed 4^th among all Novembers and received a state averaged 1.07 inch, about a half inch less precipitation than the current November. There have been no other recent Novembers this dry in the Indiana weather record books.

Indiana farmers welcomed the warm and dry November weather.  The wet corn fields of October were finally able to continue dry down and the delayed harvest season resumed in earnest.  The Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service reports that Indiana corn harvest progress which began at 29 percent complete at the start of November ended the month at 84 percent complete, a substantial improvement.  Soybean harvest jumped from 63 percent complete at the start of November to 99 percent complete at the end of the month.  Historically both corn and soybean harvest in Indiana should be nearly wrapped up by the end of November.

November 1^st– 7^th 

Mostly sunny skies and a nearly dry first week of November were a welcome relief to Hoosiers after a cold and wet October.  A warming trend throughout the week lifted air temperatures from well below normal at the start of the week to much above normal by week’s end.  The month opened with statewide averaged air temperatures 11F degrees below normal. Temperatures rebounded to near normal by November 4^th.  A burst of unseasonably warm air the final two days of the week ramped state averaged temperatures to 14F degrees above normal, a bounce of 25F degrees over the 7 day interval.  Typical early November maximum temperatures in Indiana range from 56F to 62F degrees north to south across the state.  Normal minimums vary between 38F and 42F degrees north to south.

A rather flat zonal jet stream pattern in the upper atmosphere this week blocked the bulk transport of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into Indiana. Under this pattern storms originating in continental Canada, known as “Alberta clippers”, race southeastward to Indiana before turning northeastward into eastern Canada.  These storms cannot tap into major watersources and pass through our state as dry fronts with temperature changes but very little or no rainfall.  For the week total precipitation averaged only a few hundreths of an inch statewide.  Normally Indiana would expect about 0.75 inch of precipitation in northern Indiana this first week of the month to about 0.85 inch in southern counties.

November 8^th– 14^th  

A second week of sunny skies and warm temperatures encouraged Indiana farmers as they worked to catch up a much delayed harvest season.  The week opened with statewide averaged temperature departures 14F degrees above normal, as a far northward location of the jet stream favored unusually warm temperatures in the state.  Over the next four days temperatures slid each day, slowing to 3F degrees above normal as a cold front nudged closer to our state.  Once this front passed the temperature trend reversed itself and the state temperature anomaly gradually rebounded to 8F above normal by the close of the week.  In the second week of November normal maximum temperatures range from about 50F degrees to 57F degrees north to south across Indiana.  Minimums typically vary between 33F to 37Fdegrees across the state.

Early this week all eyes were on the potential impact of the Gulf coast landfall of hurricane Ida on our weather.  The critical timing of a cold front passage across Indiana on November 10^th just ahead of Ida’s advance and a ridge of high pressure behind the front blocked the transport of moisture northward into our state.  Instead of another round of heavy precipitation, less than a half inch of rain fell in far northern communities this week.  On average only a few hundreths fell midweek and near the end of the week in northern Indiana.  It was dry this week in central and southern Indiana.  Normally precipitation should total about 0.75 inch in the north, 0.95 inch in central, and 0.90 inch for the second week of November across southern Indiana.  The high pressure system moved east of Indiana on November 13^th.  Clouds increased and a new storm system arrived the next day.

November 15^th– 21^st    

A dry storm system at the start of the week moved quickly through Indiana and departed.  But the next storm system behind it was in no hurry and dominated the week’s weather.  A deep low pressure center formed over Kansas and stretched vertically from ground level high into the atmosphere. The jet stream broke away to the north on November 16^th, leaving this massive storm alone spinning in place for some days on the High Plains. On the leading side of this cutoff system, warm moist air was pumped northward into Indiana from the Gulf of Mexico.  On November 19^th the cutoff low began to fill and pulled slowly northward over Illinois. The next day this system began to fill rapidly, increased its speed northeastward, and was caught up again in the polar jet stream over eastern Canada.  The departure of the cutoff low changed the wind patterns over Indiana.  The rains stopped and dry weather returned to Indiana as the week closed.

For the second week in a row statewide averaged temperatures held above normal on every day of the week. The week opened with temperature departures 9F degrees above normal, then slipped each day over the next four days to slightly above normal by November 19^th, as clouds and rain sapped the sun’s warmth.  The temperature rebounded to 5F degrees above normal by November 21^st as the cutoff storm departed northeast of Indiana.  Overall for the week statewide temperatures averaged 4F degrees above normal.  Typically in the third week of November maximum daily temperatures should reach 47F degrees in the north, 52F degrees in central, and 55 degrees in southern Indiana.  Daily minimums should vary from around 32Fdegrees in northern Indiana, 34F degrees in central, and 36F degrees in the southern third of the state.

Rain fell on five consecutive days from November 16^th through 20^th with the heavier amounts noted early on.  For the week total precipitation ranged from at least 0.6 inch at most locations up to 1.2 inches in northern and southern Indiana and 1.9 inches in the central part of the state.  The heaviest one day amount was 2.60 inches as recorded by a CoCoRaHS observer in Valparaiso on the morning of November 16^th.  These totals are well above the weekly normals of about 0.6 inch in northern Indiana, 0.7 inch in central, and 0.9 inch in southern sections.

A flood advisory was issued for portions of west central Indiana on November 17^th.  Near bankful conditions were expected along the Wabash River from November 18^th through the 22^nd.

November 22^nd– 30^th   

The final interval of the month began and ended warmer than normal but a midweek cold front made for a miserably cold and wet Thanksgiving Day in Indiana.  The week started with warm southerly winds as a high pressure ridge moved east of the state. Statewide average temperatures ran 6F to 8F degrees above normal until November 25^th when a cold front swung through the state.  The merger of two upper atmosphere low pressure troughs over Indiana the next day intensified a push of cold Canadian air into the region.  Temperatures dipped to 4F degrees below normal, ending a 20 day warm spell.  Yet the cold snap was brief.  Two days later skies cleared and a strong Bermuda high pressure center took over, lifting Indiana temperatures once again to 8F degrees above normal on November 28^th.  The month ended like it began with warmer than normal temperatures.  For the overall 10 day interval the statewide average departure was 4F degrees above normal.  Typically during this period maximum daily temperatures should range from about 43F degrees in far northern Indiana to 47F in central and 51F in southern Indiana.  Normal daily minimums range from 30F in the north to 31F in central and 34F degrees in southern Indiana.

After a dry start to the week rain approached Indiana in advance of and during the midweek cold front.  Light rain fell from November 23^rd through 26^th.  More light rain fell on November 28^thand 29^th.  For the week rainfall totaled about 0.75 inch in northern Indiana, 0.45 inch in central, and around 0.30 inch in the south.  These amounts are less than normal for this period in November, which ranges from about 1.2 inch in far northern Indiana to approximately 1.6 inch in the far south. The largest single day rainfall amount noted was 0.73 inch ending the morning of November 25^th by the CoCoRaHS observer at Lakes of the Four Seasons.

November Summary

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         44.8              40.5          4.2 

North Central     44.4              40.4          4.0 

Northeast         44.2              40.1          4.1 

West Central      46.3              42.1          4.2 

Central           45.6              41.9          3.7 

East Central      45.1              41.3          3.9 

Southwest         49.4              45.4          4.0 

South Central     47.9              45.0          2.9 

Southeast         47.0              44.3          2.7 

State             46.2              42.4          3.8

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        1.98              3.16         -1.17          63

North Central    1.66              3.16         -1.50          52

Northeast        1.47              3.02         -1.56          48

West Central     2.44              3.60         -1.16          68

Central          1.27              3.63         -2.37          35

East Central     1.03              3.36         -2.34          30

Southwest        1.53              4.27         -2.74          36

South Central    1.10              4.09         -2.99          27

Southeast        0.96              3.70         -2.74          26

State            1.52              3.59         -2.07          42

Autumn to date

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         52.6              52.7         -0.1  

North Central     52.3              52.2          0.1 

Northeast         52.1              51.8          0.3

West Central      54.1              54.0          0.1 

Central           53.7              53.6          0.1 

East Central      53.2              52.8          0.4 

Southwest         56.9              56.8          0.1 

South Central     55.7              56.2         -0.5    

Southeast         55.1              55.4         -0.4 

State             54.0              54.0          0.0  

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        10.05              9.29          0.76         108

North Central     8.75              9.41         -0.66          93

Northeast         8.17              8.92         -0.74          92

West Central     10.75              9.53          1.22         113

Central           9.66              9.44          0.22         102

East Central      8.30              8.88         -0.58          93

Southwest        15.31             10.45          4.86         147

South Central    15.15             10.21          4.94         148

Southeast        12.57              9.66          2.91         130

State            11.09              9.58          1.52         116

Annual-to-date

Temperature

Region           Temperature      Normal      Deviation

Northwest         51.2              52.2         -1.0 

North Central     50.9              51.8         -0.8

Northeast         50.8              51.4         -0.6

West Central      53.3              53.8         -0.5

Central           52.9              53.4         -0.4 

East Central      52.4              52.6         -0.2

Southwest         56.7              57.0         -0.2 

South Central     55.4              56.4         -1.0   

Southeast         54.9              55.5         -0.7 

State             53.3              53.9         -0.6 

Precipitation

Region           Precipitation     Normal       Deviation      Percent of Normal

Northwest        40.61             35.36         5.25           115

North Central    39.70             35.40         4.30           112

Northeast        38.28             34.06         4.22           112

West Central     44.98             38.27         6.72           118

Central          42.11             37.75         4.35           112

East Central     34.19             36.36        -2.18            94

Southwest        50.59             42.02         8.56           120

South Central    51.37             42.14         9.23           122

Southeast        46.20             40.71         5.49           113

State            43.56             38.12         5.44           114

A very wet October that ranked among the wettest in Kentucky history was followed by a November that ranks among the driest. Most locations in the state received less than one inch of precipitation for the entire month which is about 15-25% of normal. Paducah, which set an all-time October rainfall record with over ten inches recorded just over half an inch last month, which was a record for the driest November. Jackson also set a record for driest November and nearly every other major recording station was among the top ten driest Novembers. Along with the dry weather came warm temperatures, with most locations averaging three to four degrees above normal. In general, there were no persistent cool periods during the month, although the month did start with six days of slightly below normal weather. This was followed by the warmest stretch of the month, which persisted from the 7^th-10^thand saw high temperatures in the lower 70s, which was about 10-15 degrees above normal for the date. Periods of light rain crossed the state on the 16-18^th, 23-24^th, and 29-30^th, with the 17^th and 30^th being the wettest days across western and eastern Kentucky respectively. The lack of any strong cold fronts kept severe weather at bay and no damaging storms were recorded. Historically speaking, it is very rare for a wet October to be followed by a dry November. Using the Kentucky climate division statewide average, an analysis of the ten wettest Octobers on record shows that wetter than normal Novembers follow 70% of the time, and none of the top ten wettest Octobers were followed by a November that ranked in the driest 30%.

Statewide Summary for October 2009

As part of the monthly newsletter, the SCO provides a basic summary of monthly conditions for all locations that have an automated reporting station. A daily version of this product is available online at:
http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/cronos/review