Friday, May 1, 2009

April Weather Summary

April began by bringing some cold, rainy days...even two days with a trace of recorded snowfall! The temperatures weren't impressive -- below average at best -- and only surfacing above the average mark for only a brief moment or two. There was talk and fears of a damaging freeze reminiscent of the 2007 freeze event, but thankfully that threat subsided and only minor damage (if any) was reported.

Then how quickly the weather changed as warmer, more moist air began to dominate the area, and the entire midwest. In no time at all, we were up into the 80s, and this station we hit 90 for a brief moment. Overall, we ended up with slightly above average temperatures for the month.


Temperatures

High: 90°

Low: 29°

Mean High/Average: 67.5° / 65.9°

Mean Low/Average: 43.5° / 42.9°




Precipitation

It took some time to get the water works going, but a below-average April sky opened up late in the game and dumped some nice totals during the last week of the month. 62% of this fell in the last five days!

Thanks to OSNW3, I now have access to some midwest climate data! The average precipitation is data from the NWS coop station # 233079 in Fulton.

Average April Precip: 3.96"





We didn't have any severe events in April impact the area. In fact, in Missouri there were only 70 severe weather reports. I updated my previous post on April Storm Data to reflect this data.

April 2009 Days with Thunder: 3

24 comments:

Bob said...

Do you have any data on your humidity out your way? We lived in SE Texas for 12 years and the RH was always something of interest to us. We are generally fairly dry here in North Central WA.

Bob

WxWatcher said...

Hmm..I don't keep data, but your comment makes me want to now!

From my own experiences, I can say that we are generally very dry in winter and humid during spring/summer.

Was the humidity in SE Texas variable? What made it interesting?

Bob said...

The dead of Winter, Fall, and parts of Spring were generally tolerable for us West Coast transplants. Summer was real difficult with high temperatures and RH. Dew point readings were always interesting to us as we looked for our personal "saturation points." During the summer months dew points in the mid-70's were common.

Josh Herman said...

Bob, WxWatcher... dewpoints are a contributing factor on why I would did not move to STL and why my wife moved to WI. The Summer is just too darn hot, and too darn long for me in MO. Winter also played a big role. There isn't one, compared to WI. :)

Thanks for the month end data, WxWatcher. I love this stuff. Your 90° reading made me choke. ;)

WxWatcher said...

Yeah, when we start getting dew points in the 70s, it makes life a bit miserable. I can recall running at 5 am a couple of summers ago and not being able to breathe by the end! Last summer wasn't too unbearable...we didn't top 100 once! I'm okay with that happening again.

Hey Ami, did you get that rain gauge up?? ;o) Actually, I shouldn't pick on you...I appreciated the phone call last night very much.

Josh Herman said...

WxWatcher, don't get me wrong, I love the heat & humidity when I am visiting a tropical island... That makes me wonder when the next time will be... harrumph. :)

Ami Jo said...

I did not get it up... :( sorry. I have failed you once again. I miss talking to my baby brother. I love having a chance to call you!

I hope your week is wonderful! When does your school get out for the summer? My kids go until the 28th this year.

Love ya!

WxWatcher said...

We are out on the 21st. I can tell that the kids are just as ready as I am!

Josh Herman said...

WxWatcher/Ami... May or June?

WxWatcher said...

MAY!! I couldn't imagine going into June. Although I remember my high school graduation was in June (7th).

Josh Herman said...

Werd. Oshkosh's last day of school, due to too many snow days this year, is June 10th. Not much different.

Josh Herman said...

Addendum: The kids regularly scheduled last day is June 10th and they get out June 10th. The students do not make up any snow days this year... 16 minutes was added to each day, after the board figured it out, so they wouldn't have to extend the school year. Teachers have to be in school until June 12th however. (My wife is a fourth grade teacher)

Anywhoot. Thought I'd share.

WxWatcher said...

Very interesting! Hey, how many days are worked into the school year for snow days (if any)? We just have a normal schedule all year, then when we have snow days, we go to school during regularly scheduled "off" days (MLK Day, Pres. Day, and eventually into spring break). Since I've been teaching (five years), we have never gone into June.

I'll have to tell my stressed out colleagues that we should count our blessings with being done in May!

Josh Herman said...

WxWatcher, school doesn't start until after Labor Day. I am guessing you all start in August sometime, eh?!

WxWatcher said...

Mid to late August, yes. Next year we start on the 19th. In some ways I think we should also start later...two years ago we had a handful (~10) heat days in August. We have no AC, so our rooms were pretty toasty.

Josh Herman said...

Looks like the state of MO is getting hammered today!!!

Ami Jo said...

We've had several tornado warnings this morning, plus one last night. It's been a fun past 12 hours!! Too bad I don't have my rain gauge up! According to weatherunderground.com the area where my rain gauge WILL BE located has received around 5 inches of rain with these storms!!

I PROMISE it will be up this weekend!!!!! :) Happy Friday to you all!

Ami

Josh Herman said...

Ami, sadly you've already missed the 50 year storm with your gauge not being up. *weep* ;)

Any flooding taking shape?

Ami Jo said...

Actually at lunch I just took some really good pictures of the creek behind the bank where I work. It is spring-fed, and my town is down in a valley. With all of the rain we have received this week, the ground of course is saturated, so everything is just rushing down to the Yadkin! I haven't checked out the Meramec yet. I'm sure it will start rising soon.

Unfortunately, I have no way here at work to get my pictures from my camera to my computer - so you will all have to wait for the pics! Maybe this weekend I will create my own blog and post the pics that way. Who knows....

Anonymous said...

And I'll make the 20th comment! :)

I checked the radar a few hours ago and I saw you received some heavy thunderstorms. We had a nice rainbow yesterday afternoon, I have pics on the blog. Hope nothing is damaged.

Ami Jo said...

Chris, my ex-husband works for a local ambulance district and he said there were several tornado reports last night (he was lucky enough to be working through it all). Today we have had several severe storms, and there have been a few reports of 1-inch hail, but I'm not aware of any damage yet. There are places without power though.

I love storms, just don't like them at night. I like to be able to see what is coming.

WxWatcher said...

Wow, I got back from a field trip and the comment section exploded! :o)

We got quite a nice storm late last night, and a complex of storms came through this morning. I'm going to post about last night's storm today.

Ami, is the flooding in Steelville as bad as last year?

Ami Jo said...

WxWatcher, no...certainly not as bad as last year. I haven't seen the Meramec yet though. I'm sure it will be out of its banks, but probably nothing like last year.

I'll post pictures Sunday when I'm at Mom and Dad's and can get my pictures off of my camera.

Please tell your beautiful wife that I wish her a happy Mother's Day!!! :)

Love ya!
Ami

WxWatcher said...

quba,

Thank you for the nice comment. I can't believe anyone would want to read my ramblings on about the weather. Glad there are a few of you that enjoy it!