MONTHLY SUMMARY: SEPTEMBER 1998 UPDATED: 10/31/98 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...VERY WARM AND DRY IN THE WEST, NORTH, & COASTAL SECTIONS... ...VERY WARM TEMPS AND NEAR NORMAL PRECIP FOR CENTRAL SECTIONS... .REMNANTS OF HURRICANE EARL PROVIDE SOME RELIEF FOR NORTH & SOUTH CAROLINA. Greetings folks, especially to our newest member from Louisa, Joseph Bowers! Joseph maintains an official NWS site, NWS ID 44-5050-02, location: Lat 38 deg 02 mins N, Lon 78 deg 01 min W. This Louisa Co-op station was started in 1914. There have been only four observers in that period. We look forward to his data, especially for comparison with John Bullock's data! It's good that we have quite a few locations throughout the network with 2 or more observers, giving us an opportunity for small area comparisons. He's on the Internet with address inserted herein. Welcome Joe!! After all the weather activity over the East during July and August, certainly was nice to have a more tranquil September. Unfortunately, rainfall was well-below normal for most areas, adding insult to injury for many of you in the northern and western sections of the area. Despite cooler temps now, many of your are bone dry and the increasing winds associated with southward migrating high pressures recently have only added to the problems. Hope this doesn't lead to wildfire problems during the remainder of the fall. Southern and central North Carolina and much of South Carolina experienced a period of wet weather when the remnants of Hurricane Earl moved across the region. And now, this wonderful fall weather has been struck favor, it seems, by most every person with whom you speak. Have enclosed another page of Bonnie related pictures which mailing costs prohibited last month, already 23 cents in excess of the norm. Francis' October WeatherView is included for your review. Let's see how he did! NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Alexandria - Rick reports one of the warmest Septembers in a long time. He also notes a "persistent drought." Annandale - September was notable for its warmth and dryness. The 2.04" of precip was 2.11" below normal and the least amount since 1990. The month's average minimum temp of 63.3 was a new record high minimum average, the highest since 1980. This mean temp was 5.1 above the average mean. September '98 was the clearest since 1986 and had 10 days on which the local weather was controlled by high pressure systems on the synoptic map. The minimum of 47 deg. on the 24th was the coolest since May 14th but was not that unusual since it was 2 degrees above the normal low for that date. (notes from Lowell Koontz) Arlington - NWS WBC reports the monthly average temp was 4.1 degrees in excess of the norm while precip totals were 1.48" below the norm. On the 27th, a new high temp record of 95 was set, exceeding by 3 degrees the previous high set in 1900. WBC sees the year in two El Nino parts: from January to June, rainfall ran 10" above normal; since then there has only been 3.57" Bridgewater - Notes from Clayton: "The 97 degrees on the 12th was the highest for the year. Almost all the months this year have been above normal in temperatures. The average of 72 degrees made this September the warmest in at least 34 years. My records on precipitation are for this time. Along about the first of July, the precipitation for the year was about 12 inches above normal. At the end of September, it had dropped to nearly 4 inches above normal. The average precipitation for the first six months of this year was 4.75 inches. In the last 3 months, the average was 1.57 inches. What a contrast! The years 1976 and 1977 were very dry years. The precipitation during the spring of these years was much below normal. When the dry weather continued during the summer, wells began to run dry. This year, the situation was different. With the heavy rains in the early part of this year, there wasn't much thought that the drought would become a problem for people with wells." Centreville - Paul noted a weak month in the "wind department." Falls Church - The month was dry with above normal temperatures. Erica also noted 12 days on which the temp rose to 90 or above. Fredericksburg - A very warm September, the 3rd warmest month of the year only behind August, the warmest, and July. At that, September was less than 3 degrees cooler than August and only 2 degrees cooler than July. 12 days saw a high temp 90 deg. and above, with a high of 98 on the 6th. A little more rain than either July's or August's, but the month was the 3rd consecutive to be far below average. Hampton - Dave reports mean temps 6 degrees above normal! Precip was 2" below normal. He figures the highlight for September was Mark McGuire's 62nd home run on September 8th! (Absolutely true!) Herndon - Ross Topping notes, "We recorded our hottest day of 1998 on September 6th at 96.4 degrees. We set 4 new record highs and tied 2. Our 1.01 inches of rain on the 17th beat the old daily record. Overall, it was another hot and dry month." Newmarket - "Oh my, are we ever hot and dry this month. Looks like a dust bowl around here. Driest September since 1991, but the driest since 1982 is September 1985 with 0.31" of rain." - report from Joyce Norfolk - NWS AKQ reports that monthly rainfall was 1.65" below normal the monthly mean temp was 3.3 degrees in excess of normal. Portsmouth - A much quieter month here (and I got my lightning-zapped PC back in operation!) after Bonnie... Three station records were set with a new daily precip record (0.66") on the 3rd, a new max wind speed of 23 MPH for the 9th, and a two record max low temps with 72 on the 9th and 74 on the 9th. The high temp of 91 set a new maximum record on the 29th (database going back to 1976). The month tied 1984 for the 8th driest September on station record (23 years). Richmond - NWS AKQ reports the mean temp was 4.2 degrees above normal while precip was 0.56" above normal. Mechanicsville - Strong thunderstorms with downpours and sharp lightning on the 8th and again on the 30th, reports Glenn. Roanoke - Wendell says September was by far his hottest on record! The mean temp was a whopping 6.2 degrees in excess of the norm. 14 days saw temps reach 90 and above breaking the previous record of 8 set in 1985. Rainfall in the area during September is usually one of extremes. Of the ones drier than the 0.71" total this month are 0.55" in 1994, 0.54" in 1985, 0.52" in 1978, and 0.48" in 1991. The wettest September was 14.71" in 1996. Stafford - Notes from Danny: Another above normal temperature, below normal precipitation month; Too dry!!! His web site now features his weather station's climate data summaries in HTML format! WeatherNet Stafford can be accessed at http://www.tidalwave.net/~tornado/ (Click on "Statements" for the data summaries) Weems - According the Francis, the month was dry but warm. Woodstock - Lauck was heading for Scotland when mailing his September report! Hope you had a good time. Apparently you missed little here weatherwise! Asheville - The monthly mean temp was 4.1 degrees above normal and rainfall was 2.25" below normal. Brevard - Charlotte - NWS GSP reports Charlotte was slightly warmer than normal with the average monthly temp some 0.7 degree above normal. Rainfall was excessive by 0.29 inch. Greensboro - NWS RDU noted that the mean temp was 0.9 degree above normal and rainfall was 1.75" above normal. Henderson - Temps were above normal while rainfall was about normal. Henderson is one of the safest places in the country concerning weather. We have trouble here but the weather is the least of worries. (notes from George Stevenson, Jr.) Raleigh - NWS RDU reported record high temperature were broken on the 13th, 27th, and 28th. Rainfall was slightly normal (0.36"). The monthly mean temp was 3.5 degrees in excess of the norm. Raleigh - A very warm month here, according to Bob Woodson, with 10 days of high temps 90 degrees or above. This is a record for September since moving here in 1985. Also, the month was very dry with the bulk of moisture coming from Earl on the 3rd and 4th (2.56"). Roxboro - September, saith Merriell, was much warmer and drier than normal. Extended periods of heat and humidity seemed like mid-July. Most of the rainfall during the first week resulted from Earl's remnants. Wilmington - NWS ILM noted that September was another warm but slightly wet month in the Port City. The average temp was 1.6 degrees above normal while precip was 0.34" in excess of the norm. The high of 91 degrees on the 28th ties a record high for the date set previously in 1911. Low temps of only 75 on the 28th and 29th tied record warm lows (1996 and 1959 respectively). New daily precip records were established: 2.65" on the 3rd and 1.20" on the 8th. Compared with August, winds calmed down considerably. Columbia - From NWS CAE: the average temp was 2.2 degrees above normal while rainfall was 2.91" ABOVE normal. Greenville-Spartanburg - The month's precip total was 0.35" above normal while the mean temps were 3.0 degrees above normal. (NWS GSP) Ruby - Hurricane Earl deposited 5.7" of rain and a rainfall of 1.06" on the 30th made-up most all of the month's rainfall. Tri-cities - The month's mean temperature was a whopping 3.7 degrees above normal while precip was an equally whopping 2.36" 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 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 WOO Lauck Walton jwalton@shentel.net NPN Gary Leonard garleonard@aol.com LKU Joe Bowers jmbiii@mnsinc.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------