The total annual rainfall for Stormstown has passed the 50-inch mark today.
This is already roughly 15 inches more rainfall than each of the previous two years.
Data
October 2018 Weather Summary
October was near normal for temperature with a monthly mean that was 1.5 deg. F above normal. The high for the month was 85.2 deg. F recorded on October 7. The low for the month was 28.3 deg F, recorded on October 25, the first freeze of the season. There were 423 heating degree days.
October was also a normal month for precipitation with 3.55 inches of rainfall recorded. This was 0.27 inches above normal and has contributed to a 14.00 inch surplus for 2018. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.97 inches recorded on October 27. There were 14 days of rain >.01 in, 9 >.1 in and 0 >1 in.
The outlook for November.
My Personal Weather Station
If you haven’t figured out by now, I am a retired meteorologist. I have installed my own weather instruments at my home in Stormstown. My primary station consists of a cluster of sensors for The Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station.
Pictured is the tipping bucket rain gauge, thermometer, hygrometer, solar sensor, UV sensor and data transmitter. The transmitter has a battery that is charged by a small solar panel. The spikes are a deterrent to birds that can foul the rain gauge.
On a 30′ mast, near the instrument package, are a wind vane and anemometer.
Data are transmitted to my indoor displays. One of my displays has a data logger with a wired connection to an internet router.
With software, supplied by Davis, my data is downloaded to a PC for storage and analysis. My data are also uploaded to Davis WeatherLink, Weather Underground and The Citizen Weather Observer Program.
My secondary instrument cluster is a BloomSky package. On the left is a solar-powered barometer, thermometer, hygrometer and UV sensor package. It also has a fisheye WiFi camera. On the right are a solar-powered anemometer, wind vane and tipping bucket rain gauge. Data are sent to my router via WiFi and uploaded to BloomSky.
Data are displayed via The BloomSky App as shown.
September 2018 Weather Summary
September was above normal for temperature with a monthly mean of 3.7 deg. F above normal. There were only two daily maximums at or above 90 deg F. The high for the month was 90.7 deg. F recorded on September 5. The low for the month was 42.4 deg F, recorded on September 30. There were 93 heating degree days.
September was extremely rainy with over 8.2 inches of rainfall recorded. This was 4.22 inches above normal for September and has contributed to a 13.79 inch surplus for 2018. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 2.33 inches recorded on September 10. There were 14 days of rain >.01 in, 11 >.1 in and 2 >1 in.
The outlook for October.
Seasonable temperatures and slightly above normal rainfall for central Pennsylvania.
Summary of Summer 2018
Meteorological Summer is officially over. Here is a brief summary of Jun 1-Aug 31 in Stormstown, PA:
Number of Days Max T >= 90 F: 6
Number of Days Max T >= 95 F: 0
Max T: 91.3 – July 3, 2018
Min T: 43.5.0 – June7, 2018
Jun Dep from Normal: -1.0
Jul Dep from Normal: -0.7
Aug Dep from Normal: 1.3
Heating Degree Days: 131
Cooling Degree Days: 590
Jun Precip: 4.70 “, 0.84” above normal
Jul Precip: 9.14″, 5.68″ above normal
Aug Precip: 5.52″, 1.38″ above normal
August 2018 Weather Summary
August was a slightly warm month for temperature. The monthly mean was 1.3 deg. F above normal. There were only two daily maximums at or above 90 deg F. The high for the month was 90.8 deg. F recorded on August 29. The low for the month was 49.0 deg F, recorded on August 24. There were 17 heating degree days.
August was rainy, but lower than July, with over 5 inches of rainfall recorded. This was over 1.38 inches above normal for August and has contributed to a 9 inch surplus for 2018. There were 13 days of rain >.01 in, 9 >.1 in and 1 >1 in. Highest single day’s rainfall was 2.01 inches.
July 2018 Weather Summary
July was a normal month for temperature. The monthly mean was 0.7 deg. F below normal. There were only three daily maximums at or above 90 deg F. The high for the month was 91.3 deg. F recorded on July 3. The low for the month was 49.1 deg F, recorded on July 8. There were 37.9 heating degree days.
July was very rainy with over 9 inches of rainfall recorded. This was over 5.5 inches above normal for July and has contributed to an 8 inch surplus for 2018. There were 15 days of rain >.01 in, 13 >.1 in and 3 >1 in. Highest single day’s rainfall was 1.23 inches.
Rainy July
During the past 5 days, it has rained 4.27 inches in Stormstown, PA. That is 0.81 inches above normal for the month of July. So far, it has rained 7.53 inches this month. That’s 4.07 inches above normal. More rain is forecast before the end of July.
New UV Sensor Installed
This week, I installed a new UV sensor to my automated weather station. The plot from the first few days of operation appears below.
As you can see the UV intensity was significant. Sunscreen is recommended for indices of 3 or above.
Measurement of the pH of Rain
Today, with precipitation in the forecast, I set up my mini-laboratory to measure the pH of the local rainfall in Stormstown, PA. First, I installed a standard rain gauge to collect rainwater.
I calibrated my pH meter, prior to taking any actual measurements, using standard reagents of pH of 4.0 and 6.86. I used a pH 7.0 reagent to verify.
After calibration, I waited for some rainfall and then collected my sample.
It had rained 0.20 inches over the past two days.
This was about 400 ml of liquid.
I measured the pH to be about 5.15, which is in the normal range for rainfall but still acidic. It is not considered to be acid rain.
