Record Setting Year

We had our 4th snow day this week, and when I climbed into my car to head to work, it was 50° and roads were clear. The deal was that the gravel roads that criss-cross the school district were a sheet of ice after the fz ra followed by more rain overnight...and you won't hear me complaining. I got some quality time with my family.

I stumbled across this interesting bit of information from the NWS STL office:

St. Louis Yearly Precipitation Record Within A Few Hundredths

ST. LOUIS (1870-2008)
TOP TEN WETTEST YEARS ON RECORD
1. 54.97 (1982)
2. 54.94 (2008)
3. 54.76 (1993)
4. 51.65 (1984)
5. 50.83 (1927)
6. 50.73 (1985)
7. 50.31 (1946)
8. 49.28 (1915)
9. 49.20 (1898)
10. 48.46 (1876)

COLUMBIA (1890-2008)
TOP TEN WETTEST YEARS ON RECORD
1. 62.49 (1993)
2. 55.43 (2008)
3. 55.37 (1985)
4. 54.62 (1892)
5. 53.62 (1990)
6. 50.70 (1984)
7. 50.50 (1973)
8 50.34 (1969)
9. 49.70 (1927)
10. 48.53 (1981)

(Through 4 am Friday December 19th 2008)

At this station, we currently have 58.22" recorded for 2008



VERY COOL GRAPHIC



On the NWS EAX office web page, they placed a graphic of the warm air advection that occurred as last night's warm front lifted north. The cross section is North-South as you go left-right. Use the insert at the top right to get an idea of where it is located.



You can see how the cold air was retreating as the less dense warm air overran it. As the precip was falling into the shallow layer of sub-freezing air, it fell as freezing rain. But as the cold air gets deeper the further north you go, sleet was allowed to form. According to this same NWS office, there were reports of 3 - 4 inches of sleet in Des Moines, IA (depicted on the far left of this cross section.)