MONTHLY SUMMARY: OCTOBER 1997 UPDATED: 11/23/97 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fall colors continue to deepen along the Southeast Virginia coastal plain as I update the ACON report just before Thanksgiving. Here, and likely where you live, temps for November are running far below normal as we've had successive penetrations of cold air from central and eastern Canada. For a while it appeared a persistent trough was going to develop over the East, but a more zonal flow has set in this third week of November. As you do, wonder what the well-debated El Nino (see David Tolleris' report enclosed [but not on our Internet site]) will dish-out and what overall character the winter will develop. Just a part of the excitement we all feel as winter lies on our doorsteps! A BIG WELCOME to new member Tom Myers from Rockwell, NC (RWL) in Rowan County!!! He writes: "To give you a brief geography lesson on where I live let me give you a description. I live 3 miles WSW of the Town of Rockwell (population about 2,000) in Rowan County. The nearest city is Salisbury (population about 30,000) which lies 10 miles due north of me. Salisbury lies along Interstate 85 about halfway between Charlotte and Greensboro. So, that puts my house about 35 miles northeast of Charlotte not quite halfway to Greensboro." Glad to have you join us Tom!! By the way his e-mail address is: tmyers@salisbury.net Do wonder what has come of John Stewart of Charlottesville. As you remember his wife of many years died and he went to live with his relatives for a while. Too, he traveled quite a bit to New England each year. John, if you're out there, let us know what's going on with you these days! (Still mail reports to him and they're not returned.) Good job- AND THANKS - on getting those data summaries back to me by the 8th of the new month! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Arlington - NWS WBC reports that DCA a very typical October. Rainfall, temperatures, and sunshine amounts were all close to the average. October was the fourth near normal month in a row. October saw a clear transition to cooler temps. The first half of the month saw temps in the usual 70's and 80s but cool 50s and 60s for highs prevailed during the latter half. Boston - Thomas Hensley noted that October had a gradual drop in temps withy only 4 days of precip here about 20 miles from the Blue Ridges. The fall colors were slow in coming during the month. (but he notes the brilliant yellows, reds, and oranges in early November!) Bridgewater - Clayton notes the average temperature was about a degree above normal while rainfall was 1.2 inches below normal. There were a number of mornings with light, scattered frost. However, the first heavy, killing frost and hard freeze occurred on the morning of the 23rd when the thermometer dropped to 21 degrees. The first part of the month was quite dry but heavy rains occurred during the latter part of the month. This was in keeping with the precip pattern for most the summer and early fall, the pattern of dry weather and then wet from heavy rains. There were no thunderstorms during the month and this year should end with a record low for total t-storms. Precipitation for the year is running some 1.78" below normal. Centreville - Paul's computerized records tell us that precip here was 1/4 inch below the 3.01 inch normal. Also, the average daily temp was 1.7 degrees above the 55.3 degree normal. Heating degrees days were just shy of the normal while cooling degrees days were above normal. Chester Gap - Took this from Dave's daily reports to Mid-Atlantic Weather Obs network regarding his station: "The Chester Gap, VA observation station 0s located at 1645 feet elevation on the east flank of Virginia's Blue Ridge, 4 miles southeast of Front Royal, VA and 63 miles west by west-southwest of downtown Washington, DC (38-51-06 degrees north and 79-08-11 degrees west)" Falls Church - Erica noted the month started-out with high temps above average but overall the month's average high temp was 0.7 degree below average due to the cold spell towards month's end. Her average low was 0.6 degrees below the norm. Precip was 0.56" below average. October 2nd saw frost for most of metro DC area. Falls Church - Lowell's computerized reports indicate that October 1997 was a turn-around month in both precip and temp categories. A high of 83 degrees on the 6th was the highest October max here since 1986! The low temp of 32 degrees was the lowest in October since 1992. Despite the four occasions when the high temps were 85 or greater (4), the greatest since 1985, the earliest October frost since 1992 occurred! Rainfall was close to normal and the wettest since March '97. Fredericksburg - Summer gave it one last shot the 4th through the 14th! 9 of 11 days were over 80 degrees reaching a peak of 90 degrees on the 6th. 6 consecutive days had temps 85 degrees or higher. Rainfall was above average with much of that falling on the 16th and 17th. - notes from Ken McKneely Mechanicsville - Glenn's noted his first killing frost on the 23rd. Dense fog was noted on the morning of the 31st. New Market - Joyce reports a hard freeze on October 19th. A low record temp for the month is 19 degrees in October 1969. This October was very dry and her site is 4.5" behind for the year. Norfolk - NWS Wakefield reported similar comments for Norfolk as listed below for Richmond; that is, a dry, warm first half was followed by cooler temps and normal precip. Rainfall was more than an inch above normal while the cool spell during the second half returned temps to near normal levels. Unlike the killing frost of the 23rd in the Richmond area, frost had not occurred by month's end along the coastal plain on which Norfolk is located. Portsmouth - The mean temperature for October '97 was just above normal (+0.8) while precip was 0.68" above normal. Despite the excess from normal precip in October the yearly deficit is still a staggering 12.35"! There were no days with thunderstorms nor were there any mornings with frost. Well-inland of this station, areas like Smithfield and Franklin (20 miles or so) did experience a killing frost in the latter half of the month. Richmond - (from NWS AKQ) A warm and dry first half of October noted here before a cold front moved through on the 14th followed by cooler, near normal temps and a period of rain falling in the near-normal category. A fairly early killing freeze and widespread frost occurred over much of central Virginia, especially west of I-95, on the 23rd. This ended the growing season by some two weeks early. Roanoke - October was very dry until the 24th-26th period when 1.14" fell during a 3 day period. Total for the month was 2.48" below normal. The mean temperature of 57.2 degrees was 1.0 degree above normal. Stafford - Danny Jessee only exclaimed, "Rainy weekends!" Woodstock - According to Lauck, temps were rather normal, only 0.1 degree below average. The month was extremely dry with the third least precip total in 14 years. The 1.17" total was less than « the norm. Asheville - Temps here according to NWS GSP were just below normal at 55.4 deg, or -0.5 deg from normal. Meanwhile, precip was 0.31" above normal. Brevard - October was mild month as far as temperature goes. The month averaged, 55.2 degrees F., combined with only nine days with measurable rain made the month an excellent one for all yard work. Precipitation, 5.90", was not remarkable for a month with a range from 0.82" to 10.71" over the past seven years. While predicting rainfall here is risky, it looks as though we will have an annual rainfall close to the "normal" 70 inches. (thanks Bob!) Charlotte - NWS GSP reports that temps here were +1.4 degree from normal while precip was near normal at +0.58" Greensboro - NWS RDU reports that temps in the Triad region were near normal (-0.3 deg.) and precip was below normal at -1.12" Raleigh - According to NWS RDU, temps were near normal (-0.5 deg.) and precip was just 0.40" above the norm. Raleigh - October, says Bob, was a month of extreme temps. October 5th and 6th saw temps reach 89 degrees while a minimum temperature of 29 degrees was noted on the 23rd. No thunderstorms during the month- Rockwell - From new member Tom Myers come these notes: The month began hot and dry with not a drop of rain from 9/28 through 10/14! Then the weather turned cool with below average temps and rain. Have now exceeded yearly normal rainfall with 2 full months to go in the year! Normal annual rainfall is 45.70" Roxboro - Merriell Jay reports that October was warmer and drier than normal. Beautiful fall colors blanketed the hillsides during the last half of the month. No major events to report- Wilmington - The NWS here reported that after four consecutive months of below normal rainfall, September saw a surplus of the wet stuff with 8.94"! But, OCTOBER was back on the dry side with only 1.33"! No precip records, nor any temp records, were tied or broken during a month where temps averages 1.3 degrees below normal. Columbia - CAE was near normal on temps (-0.4) while precip was above normal (+1.43") but the year is still below normal, some -4.93"! Greenville-Spartanburg - NWS GSP reports its area saw temps some 0.2 degree below normal while precip was near 9/10" above normal (+0.86"). Ruby - October, says Franklin, was rather wet toward the last weeks. Temperatures were in the moderate ranges. Tri-cities - The NWS at Knoxville noted temps ran some 1.3 degrees below normal while precip was nearly 1 inch (-0.89") below 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 zRAL 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 k7m@fls.infi.net STF Danny Jessee tornado@tidalwave.net BOS Thomas Hensley thomas@summit.net RWL Tom Myers tmyers@salisbury.net -----------------------------------------------------------------------------