MONTHLY SUMMARY: APRIL 1998 UPDATED: 5/30/98 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello folks! Looks like we continue to recover nicely from the unusual weather of winter past with another month close to normal temperaturewise but with variable precip amounts, most likely due to above normal thunderstorm activity. Springtime usually brings an abundance of thunderstorm activity across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, but this year's excessive activity is likely due to our friend El Nino which helped bring troughiness over the region. Above average cold frontal intrusions were noted in April. The interaction between these and the rather warm Southeast gave rise (literally) to many tornado bearing thunderstorms, with supercell outbreaks noted over Central Virginia on the first and another on the 9th over Southeastern Virginia. Jim Brickett, a local SE VA photographer, captured a nearly identical shot to the one I took of the supercell bearing down on the Smithfield area on April 9th. That shot is inclued herein. Will also try to print a contact sheet of shots I captured from my rooftop just as a thunderstorm passed to my north. Note the last picture depicts a beautiful wall cloud in the southward moving outflow from the cell that passed over the Ocean View section of Norfolk, some 13 miles to my north-northeast, at about 5 PM. Earlier that day, Virginia Beach had a tornado touchdown that blew out a wall in a large warehouse. NWS AKQ confirmed this tornado after inspection of the area. I am including a black-and-white copy of the pictures, but you can find them in color at the ACON VA/NC/SC homepage: http://www.pilot.infi.net/~bsmoot/acon.htm Quite a few contributions from our members are included for your reading! Enjoy!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Annandale - Lowell made these observations as April closed: the minimum barometer of 29.25" was the lowest for an April month since 1983. The mean temp was 1.8 degrees above normal and was the highest mean since 1994. There were truly no "warm" days as the month's high temp reached only 79 degrees. The minimum of 36 degrees on the 6th and the 11th was the highest minimum for the month of April on record! (previous record was 33 degrees!) Rainfall ended 1.08" above normal and the greatest April departure since 1990. A new record was set on the 1st for rainfall intensity with 0.86" falling in 16 minutes with 0.12" of that falling in one minute! Arlington - From NWS WBC, this report: April showers permeated the area soil adding to our surplus of rain so far this year. Temperatures, however, were right around normal for most of the month. Washingtion (DCA) did not reach the 32 degree mark this month with the coldest temp of 38 recorded on the 7th. 1.17" of rain fell on the 9th, the highest daily amount for the month. Drought seems like only a very remote possibility in the near term. So far, in excess of 20" of rain has fallen here. That is more than half the average annual rainfall for Washington. Bridgewater - The average temperature was 3.1 degrees above normal, and the precipitation was .92 inches above normal. The total precipitation for the year is 20.94 inches. This is nearly 11 inches above normal. There were 5 thunderstorms for the month. The total for the year is 8. Last year at this time, there were none. There was frost on the 28th which created a scare for people who had early gardens. However, the temperature didn't go below 32 degrees, and the frost wasn't heavy enough to cause too much damage. Centreville - Paul's data stacks up like this: the average daily temperature was some 3.5 degrees above normal while precip was 1.33 inches above normal. Paul has updated his computer systems to Windows 95 and reports- what most all updaters have- that he's run into some tweaking difficulties. By now, hopefully, he has everything back to normal! His interesting notes on dew point calculation are found later in this month's report! Falls Church - Erica reports that the average high temp for the month was juat a tad above normal. The average low was 4.4 degrees above average. Rainfall was 3.89" in excess of the average making April a very wet month. Her site also experienced 5 days with thunderstorms which is unusual for April. Fredericksburg - Rainfall was above normal for the 4th consecutive month here according to Ken. Hampton - Dave noted that April '98 weather was generally normal when compared to averages. The "El Nino" pattern, although weakened, still enhanced the thunderstorms early in the month. Numerous thunderstorm/tornado warnings were issued for the area. The increased number of warnings were probably the result of better Doppler radar and the experience of forecasters. No wind damage or tornadoes occurred in Hampton, although pea-sized hail briefly occurred on the 9th. Herndon - Bob Beall labeled April 1998 an "unremarkable month with good lawn-moving windows!" Herndon - Russ Topping reports new precipitation records on the 17th with .52" and 19th with .67". Precipitation was above normal for another consecutive month, by 11%. Temperatures averaged 2.9 degrees above average. Frost warnings were issued on the 27th and 28th, but temperatures stayed above freezing. Mechanicsville - Glenn noted strong thunderstorms on the 9th with golfball size hail and strong winds. That hail covered the ground 2 miles from his station. Newmarket - Joyce noted a fairly normal month for April '98. Norfolk - NWS AKQ informs us that ORF had a mean temp some 1.9 degrees above normal while precip was 1.25" above normal. Portsmouth - Portsmouth was fortunate on April 9th when supercells developed to the northwest and southwest on their eastward trek moving to the north and south of this station. However, I and local photographers were able to capture the beauty of these storms at a distance. Some photos are included for you. The monthly mean temp here was 1.6 degrees above normal while precip was 0.58" above normal. Had an extremely low springtime barometer reading of 29.200" on the 9th associated with a severe weather outbreak when severe t-storm and tornadoe warnings were flying all over Southeastern Virginia. Toward the end of the month, smoke combined with extremely high pollen counts to wreak havoc on anyone with sinus conditions. The smoke slowly flowed across Southeastern Virginia from controlled fires over the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk and Chesapeake. The predicted wind flow was to have taken the smoke northwest away from the affected area. Just after burning began, the wind shifted into an unexpected direction sending the smoke towards Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. For three days the smoke inundated the area varying in intensity depending upon the surface winds and amount of new smoke coming out of the controlled burning areas. Richmond - A thunderstorm here on the 9th of April produced pea-size hail with a funnel cloud reported in Mechanicsville. On April 1st, a tornado hit Coatesville which is about 25 miles north of Roy Britt's station. Roy has sent along some NWS reports on the 4/1 tornado and I've included a reprint and pix about the storm from an Internet site: http://www.med.virginia.edu/~wth2m/vatorn.html Richmond - NWS AKQ reports that RIC ran 0.7 degree above the normal mean temp for April while precip was 1.36" above normal! Roanoke - Wendell notes that April was cloudy a good deal of the time and averaged 1.0 degree above normal of 56.1 degrees. Rainfall was slightly above the normal of 4.52" at 4.80" Stafford - Danny reports that April finsihed 3.5 degrees above average (temps) with another above average precipitation month with 139% of the normal. The year is 209% of average year-to-date. Washington - No frost, says Dave Yowell, at his location during April making March 25th the last frost date of the season! Weems - Francis' "Weather-View" forecast is included for your perusal. Let's see how our sage does!! Woodstock - Rainfall for April was the third highest in 13 years. Temps were 1.5 degrees above average, 4th highest in 13 years. Asheville - NWS GSP reports the average temp at Asheville was 1.1 degrees below normal with rainfall (8.70") far above normal or 5.34" in excess. Brevard - April was not unusual temperature-wise, the month mean, 55.1 deg. F, compares with 55.5 deg. for the past eight Aprils, range 52.2 to 61.6 deg. F. However, precipitation during the month was the highest I have recorded for April by over an inch. The average April rainfall for the past eight years is 4.35 inches, range 1.66 to 7.22 inches. Rainfall for the year, 39.19 inches to date, eight year expextation = 24.8 inches, is considerably more than half the amount expected in a normal year, 67.2 inches average for the past eight years. Were the proportionate excess for the year to date to persist for the year, we would record 106 inches. Hope that the proportionate excess falls! Charlotte - According to NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, the monthly mean temp was 3.0 degrees above normal while precip was well above normal, some +3.61". Greensboro - NWS RDU reports a mean temp for the Piedmont Triad area some 0.1 degree below normal while total precip was 2.68" above the norm. A few records were set or tied this month both dealing with record high minimum temperatures. On the 1st, the record high minimum temp was 59 degrees breaking the old record of 56 set back in 1993, 1981, 1973, and 1948. Also, on April 16th, the record high minimum temperature was again 59 degrees, tieing the old record set in 1976. Henderson - Rainfall was above normal and temps were normal. George noted that he sees the biggest difference in weather between "now and a long time ago" as less snowfall. He recalls, in passing, a vivid image of the February 1948 blizzard that produced 18" of the white stuff! Raleigh - Bob Woodson reports that April was an uneventful month with temps slightly below normal and precipitation slightly above normal. The last frost of the season occurred on the 13th. Raleigh - NWS RDU notes a slightly cooler (-0.2 degree) than normal month with precipitation 0.53" above normal. The only record set for the month was for the record high minimum temperature set on April 1st. The minimum temperature this day was 64 degrees, breaking the previous record high temperature of 58 degrees set back in 1981. Roxboro - April was a mixture of warm and cool. The month was mostly cloudy with twice the rainfall than usual. A couple of severe weather watches but no major events! (notes from Merriell) Wilmington - "Just an average April in the Port City," headlines NWS ILM in its monthly summary. Temps continued just a bit above normal but there were record warm minimum temps set on the 1st, 8th, and 17th. Rainfall was about normal (-0.07"). No rainfall records were tied or broken. For the second month in a row, the city received 64% of possible sunshine. Columbia - NWS CAE notes an average temp some 0.3 degrees below normal while total precip was 2.84" above normal. Greenville-Spartanburg - The average monthly temp was 0.9 degrees below normal while rainfall was 5.29" above normal. (from NWS GSP) Ruby - April was a relatively cool and wet month here. Franklin adds that after farmers got behind because of the wet soil, they are now beginning to make progress. Tri-cities - The monthly mean temp was -0.9 from normal while precipitation was 3.73" above normal! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATED MEMBERS' E-MAIL ADDRESSES: (posted by permission) BRE Bob Keehn Bob_Keehn@citcom.net BRI Clayton Towers Ctowers@rica.net POR Bill Trotter wtrotter@whro.org RAL Bob Woodson woods@pipeline.com CEN Paul Bassett III pbassett@digizen.net WSH David Yowell deyowell@mnsinc.com FCH Erica Page erica@erols.com RMD Roy Britt rbritt@erols.com NEW Joyce Winfree joywood@shentel.net FRB Ken McKneely mckneelys@email.msn.com STF Danny Jessee tornado@tidalwave.net RWL Tom Myers tmyers@salisbury.net WOO Lauck Walton jwalton@shentel.net NPN Gary Leonard garleonard@aol.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------