MONTHLY SUMMARY: JULY 1996 PREPARED: 8-21-96 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi everyone! Hope all is well with you and you're enjoying this mid-summer day. -Here on the coastal plain of Virginia we're experiencing an unusual summer string of days with temperatures LESS THAN 90 degrees! This is indeed an August rarity, with the string now varying up-and-down the coast; but, many sites have exceeded 30 days (including DCA) fitting the criteria! In Norfolk, with the ASOS right near the water, the string is also beyond 30 days. At my station, some 15 miles inland, we're at 27 days. -Haven't heard how Mr. Bullock's doing in Louisa, but hope he continues his speedy recovery and is out in the backyard soon! -Again, please try to use the new ACON data form I'm sending. A couple of you are still using the older forms and that slows me down when transcribing data. 'Nuff said. -For those of you online in Virginia, you might want to submit data (hourly, daily, intermittently) to the WeatherNet4 observers data system at http://wxnet4.nbc4.com I've seen Clayton Towers' Lowell Koontz' and I believe, Ken McKneely's observations when posting my own, as well as members from the ACON DC/MD/DE group, including its coordinator Kevin Shaw. (He's not been feeling well lately, as well; so "you get better Snowy Walrus!") Actually, I was surprised to see that WeatherNet4 accepted my membership considering I was so far south. So, maybe some of you in NC could join and post your obs! This is truly a great service allowing us to compare our data! (Just visit the site and follow sign-up instructions!) I see a lot of observers online there from the northern half of Virginia who are not in our group! If you know any of them, then please encourage their membership. Send them a sample of our monthly report along with my address. Thanks!! -With the new data reporting form, some confusion continues. --Regarding the "Number of days with dense fog" designation, this applies to days which have a visibility of 5/8ths of a mile or less. I have also read where some reports list it as 1/4 mile or less. We'll just have to wait for official, written statements from the NWS. --For precipitation, there is a difference between daily max and 24-hour period max. From midnight to midnight is the daily max while the 24-hour period is any 24 hour period say from 12 noon to 12 noon, one day to the next. Any 24 hour period qualifies. Some of you still seem confused over this. Please reread the explanation above. -Finally, R.M. Beall asks, "Isn't a fax transmission simpler than e-mail?" It can be, and cheaper, too! I have a computer fax program that works just fine. But I don't keep it on 24 hours per day. I'd have to know when any one of you wants to send me the fax so I could turn the capture on. Wish I had a regular, dedicated fax machine, but don't. So, that idea is pretty much out for now. I'll see if the boss will let me receive your faxes at work on the dedicated 24-hour fax line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Arlington - According to NWS DCA: July 1996 was a cool month, mainly due to cloudy weather. Four days had high temps that never made it out of the 70s. While the clouds kept daytime highs noticeably cooler, humid nights kept low temps a bit warmer and closer to normal. The month was the coolest since 1974. The station received only 52% of its sunshine in what is supposed to be the second sunniest DCA month of the year. Hurricane Bertha contributed 1.62" of rain on the 12th and 13th. To the station's east, nearer the coast, some spots had more than 5 inches! Bridgewater - From Clayton Towers: "The total precipitation for June and July combined was 14.8 inches. This is the most precipitation for these two months since 1972. Also, this is the second wettest June and July in my 32 years of keeping records on precipitation. The total precipitation for the year so far is 33.77 inches which is 12.30 inches above normal. There have been 27 thunderstorms already in Bridgewater. We usually get 20 to 25 a here. This should be a record-breaking year for thunderstorms." In a separate e-mail, Clayton writes (8-13-96): "Send me a boat. Things in the garden are at a stage now where too much rain will cause rotting. I'm afraid I'm going to lose some of my nice cantaloupes." Centreville - If any of you would like a copy of Paul Bassett's June 24th tornado report AND video of the aftermath (a neighborhood walkthrough), then let me know and I'll send it along. Will ask that you forward the package to the next person [I'll send the name to you], which will cost you about $3.00. He spent a considerable amount of time on this fine product. His tornado report, related graphs, news articles, and pixes are online at our ACON VA/NC/SC site: http://www.infi.net/~bsmoot/acon.htm Centreville's maximum and minimum temps both occurred on July 8th. For July, we were nearly 2.75" above monthly average. Falls Church - July was the coolest on record here! Lowell Koontz added that the new record was some 0.07 degrees lower than the old record of 1984. July 1996 was the wettest since 1992 and the second wettest on record. The highest wind recorded for June 19th was set on that day this month with a westerly wind at 48 mph. It was the 6th highest wind speed recorded at the station. The lowest July barometric pressure since 1976 was recorded at 29.55" on the 3rd. 2.11" of rain from Bertha on the 12-13th. Only six days with temps >=90 degrees, the least since 1984. The 0.43 inches of rain in 5 minutes was the 4th most intense 5 minute-period-rainfall since 1992. Fredericksburg - Ken McKneely notes: The big event of the month was Hurricane Bertha which struck the southern NC coast and headed north through eastern NC and eastern VA. From Bertha, 2.5" of rain and some gusty winds but no damage. Even without Bertha, the rainfall total would have been over 1 inch above normal. Cold fronts and cloudiness kept the average high temperatures nearly 4 degrees below normal. Low temps in that scheme, however, averaged slightly above normal. Fredericksburg - Matthew Michaelson is moving to an apartment and will no longer be recording daily weather obs. We hope he can still offer a prose monthly summary via e-mail to add to our reports. In July, the remnants of Bertha produced about 2.48 inches or rain between July 12th and 13th. A 40 mph gust knocked over a huge tree across the street. However, the weather of July 14th was much more interesting. A severe thunderstorm produced torrential rain and radar detected a tornado in northern Spottsylvania County, but it was not confirmed. In addition to the severe thunderstorm warnings on this event, a flash flood warning was issued. Hampton - According to Dave Kessel (who is coming online in the last quarter of the year!), July continued with cool and wet conditions. Several events produced rainfall in excess of 1 inch. He received some wind damage on July 3rd, as winds gusted to 46 mph in severe thunderstorms. Hurricane Bertha produced over 3 inches of rain at his station and winds gusted to 55 mph with considerable damage to trees and power lines. His station was without power for 6 hours (9PM to 3AM). Dave has felt that "a fundamental, yet significant weather pattern change is occurring and will continue to occur in the first week of August." [Well, he didn't specify the change, but it definitely occurred and continues! (the "troughing" along the coast) How many of us have- I know I have- felt a change would occur, but couldn't put our finger on it! When much younger, one January I predicted three snowfalls would occur, all on weekends, every other weekend! Through early February, that came to pass! Just had a feeling!] New Market - A cooler and wetter than normal July, according to Joyce Winfree- Newport News - Gary Leonard's site didn't experience much wind from Bertha; however, plenty of rain fell with a total 3.82". The high wind for the month came instead on the 14th with a 63 mph gust and quarter-size hail as a thunderstorm moved through. Norfolk - Jim Fentress noted 3.88" of rain from Bertha. Portsmouth - Rain, rain, and more rain here in July with a record monthly total of 11.80 inches. We experienced 13 days with measurable rainfall and 4 of those had 1 inch or more. There were 12 (TWELVE) days with thunderstorms and 18 (EIGHTEEN) storms occurred across those 12 days! 3.39" of rain attributed to Bertha with other significant rains occurring during the many thunderstorms. (3.43" on the 18th and 19th!) Bertha moved some 25 miles west of here at about the time it was being downgraded to a tropical storm. I measured the lowest related pressure at 29.373" at 3 AM on the 13th with a max wind gust of 54 mph between 2 and 3 AM. Lost power here for about 6 hours but had a wonderful candlelight hurricane party next door! Fortunately, my Davis Weather Monitor II had a fresh battery back-up and logged data the entire power-down. Several embedded thunderstorms moved across the locale late on the 12th and early on the 13th. Over the month, mean temps fell 2.2 degrees below normal and precip was 6.74" above normal. For the year through July, 36.90" of rain has been recorded, some 8.54" above normal. Mechanicsville - From Glenn Martin comes this note: Thunderstorms moved through the area on the 3rd with brief downpours and sharp lightning. Strong thunderstorms moved through the area again on the 15th with more downpours and sharp lightning. Rainfall of just over 2 inches occurred on the 12th and 13th related to Bertha. Roanoke - Wendell Prillaman noted that July temps were 1.3 degrees below average while precip totaled 2.54 inches, some 1.02 inches below normal. (Wendell, did NWS ROA shut down or move? I've not received their monthly summary online now for two months?) Lawns and crops in his area are quite thirsty! Woodstock - Lauck Walton reports that July was 1.5 degrees colder than any since his station was established. Brevard - Bob Keehn's monthly report noted that July was much more comfortable than the same, hotter month in 1995. The mean was 3.9 degrees cooler than the month's average high temp while the mean low was 1.1 degrees cooler. Rainfall was not unusual with 0.62 inch below the six year average. Yearly rainfall is running about 1 inch above average. Charlotte - NWS at Greensville-Spartanburg SC reported that July 1996 averaged slightly cooler than normal due to several cool spells that moderated otherwise warm temps. Only a few days between the cool spells could be classified as hot. Henderson - George Stevenson noted that he's not really had a summer! I assume he's reflecting upon the cooler temps and wet conditions! "June's gone, July's gone, and August is going!" (and fast!!) Raleigh - From Bob Woodson: "Bertha was the event of the month! I was vacationing on the NC coast near Emerald Isle the week Bertha hit. Our (vacation) area was under a mandatory evacuation so I missed a chance to experience a direct hit. In Raleigh, there was some wind damage. I recorded 1.05" of rainfall associated with Bertha." At NWS (RDU), July was labeled a "near average" one. There were no record high temps; however, a record low was set on the 5th. Precip was 3.04 inches above the norm. Roxboro - From Merriell Jay: A severe thunderstorm on the 25th produced 4.26" of rain within 2 hours with a total of 5.01" for the 24-hour period. A tornado was reported 3 miles east of Roxboro, about 1.5 miles from this station. July was warm, humid, and much wetter than normal. The month was not so hot overall, but the humidity made conditions very uncomfortable. Wilmington - NWS ILM noted a second straight month of above normal precip, thanks to Hurricane Bertha, and the storm's eye passed just to the east of the station. Bertha gave ILM a sustained wind of 53 mph with a gust to 69 mph; in addition, 5.37 inches of rain, a new daily record, fell on the 12th. The site recorded 13.42 inches, the ninth wettest July on record. Temps were about normal. Greenville-Spartanburg - NWS here reported that July '96 featured several cool spells; nevertheless, the month was about normal temperaturewise. The 4th of July brought a record low 58 degrees. Only a few days were actually hot and unpleasant. Precip totals ran slightly below the norm. Ruby - From Franklin Hancock: July was a rather hot month in our area. (so you're the one who stole the heat from "us northerners!") Rainfall was about average for July and it adequately sustained the crops and gardens. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATED MEMBERS' E-MAIL ADDRESSES: (posted by permission) BRE Bob Keehn Bob_Keehn@juno.com BRI Clayton Towers Ctowers@rica.net POR Bill Trotter wtrotter@pen.k12.va.us 71470.1535@compuserve.com wtrotter@whro.org FRD Matthew Michaelson mmichael@s850.mwc.edu RAL Bob Woodson woods@usa.pipeline.com CEN Paul Bassett III pbassett@nmaa.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------