MONTHLY WEATHER OBSERVATIONS LAVALE MD MARCH 2002 OBSERVER NATE MULLINS Special Observations: F=fog, T=thunder, H=hail, S=sleet, G=glaze, DW=damaging winds Observation time for this station is midnight. Temperature, °F Precipitation, In. Liquid Solid 7am 24-hour Temp Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min at Obs Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 48 15 22 2 36 22 33 .74 0.3 F,S 3 52 22 22 .01 T T F 4 25 11 11 T T 5 42 10 25 6 63 22 30 7 64 27 35 8 69 31 37 9 70 32 36 .05 DW 10 43 24 24 DW 11 49 19 35 12 58 30 40 13 50 38 41 .06 F 14 70 40 46 F 15 77 42 60 .03 16 60 35 35 .13 T 17 35 32 33 .59 T F,S,G,T 18 44 33 39 .39 F 19 52 36 40 .39 20 50 38 41 1.09 F 21 55 21 21 .02 0.1 S 22 29 16 21 T 0.1 T 23 49 16 29 24 61 25 37 25 55 35 37 26 40 36 39 .83 T F,S 27 40 28 28 T T S 28 53 23 32 29 70 38 57 30 75 44 54 31 57 42 42 .78 F AVG 52.9 28.5 SUM 5.11 0.5 N/A EXT 77 10 MAX 1.09 0.3 T Date 15 5 DATE 20 2 22 Mean Monthly Temperature: 40.7°F Mean Temp at Obs Time: 34.9°F Number of days with: Fog: 9 Ice Pellets: 5 Glaze: 1 Thunder: 2 Hail: 0 Damaging Winds: 2 NOTES AND/OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: 1st: Cold morning low of 15°F but a nice rebound high of 48. 2nd: Light mix of snow and sleet began around 11am with 0.3" accumulation before precip gradually changed to steady rain, foggy also. Total rain & melted snow/ice = .74" 3rd: Drizzle ended after midnight. Temps dropped rapidly this evening, windy w/ flurries 4th: VERY cold, windy and blustery high only 25F with snow flurries on and off. 6th: Sunny, windy & much warmer today high 63F. 8th: Really mild high 69F with sunshine. DAMAGING WINDS RIP AREA 9th: Sunny, continued warm high 70F, and breezy today. Clouds increased during the after- noon, shower 9-9:30pm .05" rain then VERY windy with strong damaging gusts 50-60+ mph... 10th: Strong damaging winds continued overnight and only very gradually subsided through the day. Winds gusted 50+ mph at times. Several large trees were blown down on our street and large branches went down in our yard. The power flashed off three times and was out for a while in some areas. Some roofs were blown off of buildings and a lot of other structural damage was reported, including trees that fell onto houses and cars. 14th: Overnight dense fog but a spectacular sunny warm day high 70F. 15th: An exceptionally warm high of 77F. Brief shower late this evening .03" 16th: A few showers 1-3am with some lightning and distant thunder, .13" fell, very mild night. Temperatures gradually fell all day to 35F by midnight. ST PATRICK'S DAY POTPOURRI 17th: Periods of rain began around 10am mixed with sleet/freezing rain at times. Tapered to drizzle and fog by 5pm. A surprise thunderstorm with sleet briefly passed through about 10:30pm and another one began just before midnight. Total liquid precipitation .59" 18th: More rain overnight .39" fell, then low clouds/fog/drizzle through the day. 19th: Light rain 5pm-midnight was moderate at times late, .39" was again the total. 20th: Rain overnight and this morning, heaviest between 7-8am. Lighter, more showery rain after 10am, ended by 5pm, total 1.09" since midnight. *This is the first day we've had 1+" since last July 26 (and the heaviest since June 22 when 2.03" fell)!* 21st: Partly cloudy/pleasant most of day but quickly turned colder this evening with sleet/ snow showers and strong NW winds. Only .1" snow/ice. 22nd: Few snow showers overnight (0.1"), a very cold high of only 29F and windy/blustery. 26th: Rain showers on & off throughout the day briefly mixed with sleet and briefly heavy at times, especially around 5pm. Foggy also. Rain ended by 6:30 pm, total .83". 29th: A very mild spring day with a high of 70F. 30th: Observations by neighbor David Drewery. Another unusually mild high 75F. ANOTHER WET EASTER 31st: Cooler with rain beginning about 1pm, heavy at times 3:30-5pm. Rain ended by 10pm with a total of .78" falling. Last year .93" rain fell on Easter Sunday (April 15). COMMENTS: March 2002 brought a wild potpourri of weather to the area, including much-needed heavy rains, sleet-thunderstorms, freezing rain, snow squalls, roller-coaster temperature swings, dense fog, and a severe damaging wind event on the 9th-10th that uprooted trees and blew roofs off houses. Temperatures were overall mild but variable, and a few cold, blustery days brought the average down to near normal. Despite the cold weather at times a measly 0.5" snow fell. However, precipitation was above average for the first time since last July, thanks to a series of storm systems that soaked the area during the 2nd half of March. The precipitation total measured to an impressive 5.11".