Saturday, May 1, 2010

April Weather Summary

-----**  Additional Yearly Data Updated on 5/5/10 **-----

April in Missouri can be a wild time.  The transition between Winter and Summer can cause some intense battles between air masses, and the midwest is fortunate (or, depending on your view--unfortunate) to receive the brunt of these clashes.  While we did have a couple of very weak tornadoes in and around the area, there was no real severe weather to write home about.  April can be split up into three segments this year:  Wind, warmth, and water.

Wind

50% of the month could be classified as "breezy" (gusts =< 20 mph), as we experienced 15 days meeting that criteria.  The first 8 days of the month were incredibly breezy, as they finished off a 10-day period of windy weather.  The top wind gust of 40 mph occurred on April 23rd as a strong bow echo passed through.  You can view the data HERE.

Warmth

Take a look at the temperature graph.  You'll see that of the first 15 days, we experienced a high temperature below average only once.  The high temperature during those 15 days averaged at 77.5°, where the normal average high for that period was 63.6°, a 13.9° difference.  OSNW3 experienced the same warmth in Wisconsin.  For his perspective of April from the upper-midwest, click HERE.

Water

The last 10 days of the month experienced an active weather pattern that brought most of our monthly precip total.  Collectively, we recorded 2 days with precip above 1", with our one-day max occurring on the 24th of 3.02".  We exceeded our monthly average by 2.58".


Temperature



Mean Temp:  60.9°
Deviation:  +6.5°
Maximum:  87° on Apr. 1
Minimum:  36° on Apr. 9

Precipitation



Average April:  3.96"
Actual April:  6.54"  (+2.58")

Average April Snow:  0.6"
Actual April Snow:  0.0"  (0.6)

Days With Measurable Precip:  11


As the year goes on, count on seeing more bars on the heavy side of the graph.

To compare this April with the past two years:

Other Weather Info

Days With Thunder:  7
Days With Fog:  4
Days With Wind Gust (>= 20 mph):  15

Yearly Weather Info
With the year a quarter of the way done, here's some miscelaneous data:

Max Temp:  87° on Apr. 1
Min Temp:  -5° on Jan. 9

Greatest 1-day Precip:  3.02"  on Apr. 24
Greatest 1-day Snow:  5.4"  on Jan. 6


Days With Thunder:  11
Days With Fog:  21
Days With Wind Gust (>= 20 mph):  28 
# of Mows:  2

3 comments:

Bob said...

I see a few similarities between your and our weather for the month of April. We ran a number of days above the mean high temps and we got some good, measurable winds too. Kind of hoping that May settles down a bit so I can get out and spend several days working in the yard.

Josh Herman said...

I recall writing the words "windy" or "breezy" in the daily wx descriptions a few times this past month. I should start recording that or perhaps I should mount my stinking anemometer so I could have some actual data to back it up. Talk about lazy.

As expected though, you're days with thunder are leaps and bounds beyond mine. Great summary once again. I enjoy them a great deal.

Just a heads up, perhaps before you see it (I make this mistake all the time) ... you're referencing March in the list text for Precip. I suppose I could just leave it go and not mention it, but then I'd think that maybe you'd suspect I don't really read through your entries. hehe :)

WxWatcher said...

Haha! Yeah, you're on to me OSNW3 ;o) You passed the test! Seriously though, thanks for the heads up!! I was referencing last month's summary post as a template for this month, and must have copied too much. Still hard to believe it's May!

I have to say that our days with thunder is a big reason why I like living in Missouri (there are many reasons). Don't know what it is about the sound that puts me in a good mood. It's like an audible vitamin D.

LOL about your anemometer. I remember you saying last year that you were going to put it up. Priorities, man.

Enjoy the great weather!