Severe Storm July 20

For the past three days, a line of strong and severe storms have raced through our area bringing with them very heavy rain, lots of lightning, and strong winds.  Sunday morning's storm brought with it some hail in addition.  We missed out on Monday's storm, but it knocked down a barn 20 miles north of us.  Tuesday's storm is the topic of this post.  The storm hit around 7:30 a.m. and had lots of lightning, and the strongest winds I've seen since my 6 years in Fulton.  Officially at this station, we recorded a NW wind at 48.3 mph.  Now the anemometer is in a somewhat sheltered area given the houses around us, so I would bump that speed up for accuracy.  After the initial storm passed, light rain fell for about 2.5 hours.  Rainfall totaled 1.02" for the morning.

At night, we had another storm roll through, bringing our daily total to 1.32"

Below are pictures of the damage to the neighborhood.  Anything that wasn't secured down was blown out of yards.  Multiple trees, up to 12" in diameter were snapped in half, and those folks with 6' privacy fencing lost sections.  The van across our street was damaged by a flying piece of fence.  The storm was apparently at its worse over southern Fulton (including my neighborhood).  Where I work, on the north side, we didn't have a single twig on the ground.  But as I drove home for lunch, I saw more and more limbs on the side of the road.

One of the damaged fences

June Weather Summary

So far, I can say that the past few summers have just been plain nice in Missouri.  We are still experiencing days with dew points topping 70°, but temperatures haven't been that oppressive (which can be a typical talking point for Missouri loafers).  The last time we officially hit 100° was August 16, 2007 (according to the NWS Columbia Station).  I remember 2007 as an intense summer.  We had a string of 20 days at or above 90° (from 7/31 - 8/19), and if I remember right we had a minor to moderate drought in parts of Missouri.  I remember a funny scene on the news that summer.  The Governor was giving a speech at a Mid-Missouri farm announcing the release of state emergency funds for the drought...in the middle of a tropical downpour!

All that being said, we have enjoyed a couple of nice years, but the law of averages are not pointing in our favor.  And traditionally July and August are our toughest months.

Dew Point

I am interested in keeping track of the amount of moisture in the air throughout the year (by means of dew point temperature).  Although I could manually check the hi/low Td for each day as I do with the temperature, I'm not convinced I would stay disciplined enough to keep steady data (feeling overwhelmed as I do often).  For now, a glance of nighttime temps will suffice, as a lower Td will allow for more cooling overnight.  This month, we had 10 days with a nighttime low at or above 70°.  That makes for some sticky weather -- or "Air you can wear"-- as one local meteorologist puts it.

June Daily Observations

Temperature

Mostly above average this month.  We had 23 days with a high exceeding the average, which helped bump up our mean temp quite a bit over the 30 year average.

Mean Temp:  77.4°
Deviation:  +4.7°
Maximum:  95° on Jun. 20
Minimum:  59° on Jun. 30

Precipitation

Interspersed as it was, we still didn't hit the mark this month.  Pop-up showers and thunderstorms were the norm in Missouri this month, so extreme differences can be found from station to station.  We weren't that lucky, although we did receive our fair share.  The lawn looks the brownest that it has in three years (which is its normal dormancy period for MO).  I don't mind much because it gives the mowing a little respite.

Average June:  3.87"
Actual June:  2.79"  (1.08)

Days with measurable precip:  12

Other Weather Info

Days with thunder = 7
Days with fog = 1
Days with wind gust (>= 20 mph) = 5

Our lawn mowing count is up to 10 for the year.  I'm still thinking the total might top out at around 18...we'll see.

Random Photos and Video

Below is a video I shot shortly after sundown on May 24. The lightning was simply beautiful that night, so I couldn't help getting video of it. The camera view is facing ESE.

Other photos I have are ones that I've snapped over the summer.  There are plenty, but I chose only a sampling.  Enjoy!

Sunrise - June 27, Montauk Springs

The garden so far. We've got peppers that are close to being ready,

lots of green tomatoes, and squash comin out of our ears!