Climate – Stormstown Dispatch

2020 Stormstown Weather Summary

December 31, 2020January 1, 2021BillLeave a comment

Overall, the year’s temperatures were above normal. The annual mean of 52.1 F was 2.0 F above normal. Of course the main event of 2020 was the drought. The annual precipitation of 36.46 inches was 4.24 inches below normal. Most of Centre County was in a severe drought in September.

However, at the end of the year, the drought in Centre County was essentially over.

2020 Weather Data

January

January was mild with a monthly mean of 33.2 F, which was 5.1 F above normal, with a high of 64 F and a low for the month of 9 F. Precipitation was 1.07 inches below normal with 2.04 inches of liquid precipitation.

February

The mild winter continued into February which was 5.5 F above normal. The high was 62 F and the low was 6 F, which was also the low for the year. Precipitation was 0.60 inches above normal at 2.87 inches.

March

March temperatures were also mild at 6.0 F above normal with a high of 73 F and a low of 22 F. Precipitation was 1.71 inches above normal with 5.26 inches of liquid precipitation. The high wind speed for the month and year was 47 mph.

April

Temperatures were 3.1 F below normal in April. The high was 70 F and the low was 24 F. Rainfall was 1.67 inches above normal at 5.06 inches.

May

Spring did finally arrive in mid-May. Bald Eagle Ridge on May 31, 2020

Spring temperatures continued to be cooler than normal in spite of a mild March. May was 2 F below normal with a high of 86 F and a low of 27 F. Precipitation was 1.72 inches which was 1.51 inches below normal. This was perhaps the harbinger of the future drought conditions. The last day of temperatures below freezing was May 13.

June

Temperatures for the month were near normal. The high was 88 F and the low was 41 F. Precipitation was 0.94 inches above normal with 4.80 inches of rainfall.

July

July was the warmest month of the year. The temperatures were 3 F above normal. The high for the month and year was 95 F and the low was 55 F. Rainfall was 2.27 inches below normal with 1.19 inches of precipitation.

July also gave us outstanding views of Comet Neowise.

August

The month’s temperatures were 2 F above normal. The high was 93 F and the low was 47 F. Precipitation was 2.66 inches below normal at 3.42 inches. The drought was getting severe.

September

Temperatures were near normal this month. The high was 86 F and the low was 32 F. Drought conditions continued with 2.61 inches of rainfall. This was 1.37 inches below normal. The first freeze of the season was September 20.

October

October was warmer at 1.0 F above normal. The high was 81 F and the low was 28 F. Rainfall was below normal at 2.96 inches, which was 0.38 inches below normal.

November

Temperatures were mild in November and were 3.7 F above normal. The high was 76 F and the low was 22 F. Precipitation was 3.44 inches, 0.20 inches above normal.

December

December was the coldest month of 2020. The mean temperature was 32.6 F. The temperatures were 0.8 F above normal. The high was 55 F and the low was 11 F. Precipitation was 0.10 inches below normal at 1.88 inches.

15.5” of snow was recorded on December 16-17

2020 Insolation

December 2020 Weather Summary

December 17, 2020January 1, 2021BillLeave a comment

December was 0.8 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 55.3 deg. F, recorded on December 11. The low for the month was 12.9 deg F, recorded on December 19. There were 25 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F and 5 days when the maximum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 1003 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.

December was a near-normal month for precipitation with 3.03 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.10 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 1.88 inches recorded on December 24. There were 12 days of rain >.01 in, 5 >.10 in and 1 > 1 in.

High wind speed of 36 mph on December 2.

Snowfall on December 16-17: 15.5 inches

December 2020 Data

Outlook for January 2021

The drought in Centre County is essentially over.

Summary of Autumn 2020

November 30, 2020December 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

Meteorological Autumn is officially over. Here is a brief summary of September 1-November 30 in Stormstown, PA:

Number of days Max T >= 90 F: 0

Number of Days Max T <= 32 F: 0

Number of Days Min T <= 32 F: 10

Max T: 85.9 F – September 8, 2020

Min T: 22.0 F – November 19, 2020

Sep Dep from Normal: -0.4 F

Oct Dep from Normal: 1.0 F

Nov Dep from Normal: 3.7F

Heating Degree Days: 1176

Cooling Degree Days: 117

Sep Precip: 2.61″, 1.37″ below normal

Oct Precip: 2.96″, 0.38″ below normal

Nov Precip: 3.44″, 0.20″ above normal

The outlook for Winter 2020:

November 2020 Weather Summary

November 30, 2020December 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

November was 3.7 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 76.0 deg. F, recorded on November 8. The low for the month was 22.0 deg F, recorded on November 19. There were 8 days at or below 32 F and 0 days when the maximum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 593 heating degree days and 8 cooling degree days.

November was a above-normal month for precipitation with 3.44 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.20 inches above normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 1.24 inches recorded on November 11. There were 9 days of rain >.01 in, 8 >.10 in and 1 > 1 in.

High wind speed of 39 mph on November 1.

November 2020 Data

Outlook for December 2020

October 2020 Weather Summary

October 31, 2020November 1, 2020Bill1 Comment

October was 1.0 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 80.6 deg. F recorded on October 22. The low for the month was 27.7 deg F, recorded on Oct 17. There were 0 days at or above 90 deg F and 1 day at or below 32 deg F. There were 412 heating degree days and 21 cooling degree days.

The drought continued into October with below normal precipitation of 2.96 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.38 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 1.16 inches recorded on October 29. There were 15 days of rain >.01 in, 8 >.10 in and 1 > 1 in.

High wind speed of 37 mph on October 7.

October 2020 Data

Outlook for November 2020

August 2020 Weather Summary

September 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

August was 2.2 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 93.1 deg. F recorded on August 22. The low for the month was 47.0 deg F, recorded on August 20. There were 6 days at or above 90 deg F. There were 24 heating degree days and 259 cooling degree days.

August was a below normal month for precipitation with 1.48 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.72 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.75 inches recorded on August 28. There were 8 days of rain >.01 in, 3 >.10 in and 0 >1 in.

High wind speed of 30 mph on August 24.

August 2020 Data

Outlook for September 2020

Summary of Summer 2020

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

Meteorological Summer is officially over. Here is a brief summary of June 1-August 31 in Stormstown, PA:

Number of days Max T >= 90 F: 18

Max T: 95.1 – July 18, 2019

Min T: 40.9 – June 1, 2019

Jun Dep from Normal: 0.1

Jul Dep from Normal: 3.8

Aug Dep from Normal: 2.2

Heating Degree Days: 108 Cooling Degree Days: 761

The main feature of the summer was the moderate drought conditions that developed during July and August. All of Centre County experienced those conditions. Between June 10, 2020, when it rained 0.91″ and August 28, 2020, when it rained 0.75″, there wasn’t a single day when rainfall exceeded 0.50″. In fact, rainfall has not exceeded 1.00″ of rain, in a day, since June 4.

The outlook for September 2020 shows that the drought abatement is likely.

Precipitation amounts for the summer:

Jun Precip: 4,.80″, 0.94″ above normal

Jul Precip: 1.19″, 2.27″ below normal

Aug Precip: 1.18″, 2.66″ below normal

The 3-month outlook for Autumn 2020:

2020 Western Pennsylvania Drought

August 16, 2020August 19, 2020BillLeave a comment

The following was recently posted by the State College National Weather Service Office. The chart was produced by The Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) which is co-located with The State College National Weather Service Forecast Office.

A neighbor asked to explain why Centre County was depicted as being a standout from the other counties.

For the 60-day period (6/13/2020 through 8/11/2020) Centre County’s areal precipitation was 3.2 inches which was 4.8 inches below normal for the period. A normal amount would have been 8 inches. This works out to be 60% below normal which is above the 50% threshold for the red portion of the scale. By comparison, here are the values for the surrounding counties: Blair 47%, Cambria 29%, Clearfield 47%, Clinton 41%, Huntington 43%, Mifflin 47%, Snyder 44%.

The River Forecast Centers use a distance weighting technique to calculate the areal precipitation. A grid of point estimates is made based on a distance weighting scheme. Each observed point value is given a unique weight for each grid point based on the distance from the grid point in question. The grid point precipitation value is calculated based on the sum of the individual station weight multiplied by observed station value. Once the grid points have all been estimated they are summed and the sum is divided by the number of grid points to obtain the areal average precipitation.

Here is a map of standardized precipitation index (SPI).

There is a bullseye of values between -2 and -1.5 over our region.

The SPI is a widely used index to characterize meteorological drought on a range of timescales. On short timescales, the SPI is closely related to soil moisture, while at longer timescales, the SPI can be related to groundwater and reservoir storage. The SPI uses precipitation only, and can characterize drought or abnormal wetness at different time scales which correspond with the time availability of different water resources (e.g. soil moisture, snowpack, groundwater, river discharge and reservoir storage).

As the above map indicates, southwestern Centre County is experiencing a moderate drought. The criteria for drought classification appears below.

July was lower than normal for precipitation for six counties in central Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania July 2020 Precipitation by County

The above graph shows all of the precipitation data I have collected since establishing my weather station in December 2015 until now. This past July was as dry as July 2016. However, August 2020 is on track to be the driest in 5 years.

July 2020 Weather Summary

August 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

July was 3.8 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 95.1 deg. F recorded on July 18. The low for the month was 54.7 deg F, recorded on July 14. There were 12 days at or above 90 deg F. There were 13 heating degree days and 334 cooling degree days.

July was a below normal month for precipitation with 1.19 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 2.27 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.33 inches recorded on July 31. There were 9 days of rain >.01 in, 4 >.10 in and 0 >1 in.

High wind speed of 29 mph on July 19.

July 2020 Data

Outlook for August 2020.

June 2020 Weather Summary

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020BillLeave a comment

June was 0.1 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 88 deg. F recorded on June 9. The low for the month was 41 deg F, recorded on June 1. There were 71 heating degree days and 168 cooling degree days.

June was an above normal month for precipitation with 4.80 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.94 inches above normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 1.56 inches recorded on June 4. There were 8 days of rain >.01 in, 7 >.10 in and 1 >1 in.

High wind speed of 32 mph on June 3.

June 2020 Data

Outlook for July 2020