First Freeze 2010 / YouTube Channel

It seems that our first freeze will occur tonight and tomorrow morning.  The historic cyclone that set records and wreaked havoc for much of the country also brought with it some cold, dense air.  The ridge of high pressure, coupled with a light wind will provide us with our first freeze of the year.

Wxwtchr YouTube Channel now online!

Thanks to OSNW3 and Bob for the idea, I started a channel for this station in Fulton.  I posted a video tonight (the rest are on my work computer).  But now that we have an upgraded system at home, you can expect much more to come! 

Sounds and Smells of Spring

You know the smell I'm talking about.  The moist, complex smell that is so prevalent in April and May.  Birds are singing their encouraging melodies, dew points are in the 60s, and storm spotters are put on alert.

The past couple of days have been very spring-like.  Saturday, St. Louis recorded a record high low temperature of 67 degrees (2 degrees above the normal high).  Hail reports clogged the NWS phone lines last night as a line of storms invaded the I-44 corridor from Rolla, MO to Illinois.

Stormy Night

It's not often we see these icons on our forecast page, let alone at the end of October.  Although a severe event is not out of the question any given year, it certainly does catch you by surprise. 

A powerful cold front is driving through Missouri tonight, bringing with it a squall line with embedded mesocyclones that are likely to produce some tornadoes (according to the latest evening HWO discussion).  The quick pace of the front and resulting speed of the storms adds a higher degree of urgency if storms do turn severe.

As of 10:05 p.m., the squall line had started to develop, as seen here in the watch product.  A very large area is under the gun until 6:00 a.m.

October Lull

This October is proving to be a very dry one, indeed.  We haven't been impacted with any notable weather system the entire month.  It has resulted in a beautiful month with plentiful sunshine.  The Indian Summer ended, and we are back to normal temps now.  For the 20 days so far this month, we have had 1 day of measurable precipitation, which brings our monthly rain total to 0.07".  A far cry from last year's October total of 12.49" (18 days of measurable precip). 

Unsettled weather is expected to join us again for the last week of the month.  Depending on the strength of the systems, it could still pull us up close to our average for the month.

Indian Summer Coming to and End

Although I can't find specific thresholds defining the beginning and end of an Indian Summer, I can say with confidence that our current warm period is coming to an end.  After our first frost on Oct. 4th, and another frost on the 5th, our skies cleared and temperatures stayed well above normal for a 6 day period.  High pressure settled in the mid-section of the nation, keeping millions high and dry for the beginning of October. 

A strong system from the NW has finally provided enough kick to move that airmass out of the area, and we are experiencing more seasonal cloudy, rainy, and normal temperatures for the mid-section of the week.  

September Weather Summary

Well, this September symbolized all I love about the fall in Missouri.  We experienced strong thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, plenty of windy days (1 out of 3 days had wind gusts >= 20 mph), and a nice cool-down that brought air as fresh and crisp as the ripe Missouri apples we've been enjoying.

An interesting fact about this September.  On Sep. 19, we had a 1.18" rain that put us just over our yearly average of 41.22".  Every drop of rain from here out is a surplus, which has been the norm since 2008.  Last year, we hit our average yearly precip total on October 7.

Year / Amount Surplus

2008:  18.66"
2009:  17.00"
2010:  2.15" (as of 9/30)

September Daily Observations

Temperatures

It really was a tale of two seasons, and as I remarked in a previous post, the delineation between summer and fall was quite easy to notice, and can be seen on the graph below.  September 24 was a good "first fall" day (although I have no quantitative formula to back that up)

 

Mean Temp:  69.1°

Deviation:  +1.8°

Maximum:  90° on Sep. 18

Minimum:  46° on Sep. 27

Precipitation

Once again, we have been inundated with heavy precipitation.  Those living in flood plains have had a rough three years, and there were many farmers in the area that lost entire fields of crops due to a late-year flood right before harvest time.  

 

Average September:  3.68"

Actual September:  8.26"  (+4.58")

Days with measurable precipitation:  13

 

 

Other Weather Info:

Days with thunder:  4

Days with fog:  9

Days with wind gust (>=20 mph):  10

Yearly Totals:

Thunder:  44

Fog:  43

Wind Gust:  58

Mows:  20

Coming Soon...Water Year 2009-2010 Summary

First Frost of 2010

A cool Canadian high pressure system and a clear sky brought us our first frost over night.  At this station, we dropped to 36° around sunrise today (10/4).  Frost was fairly thick on the roof of my car and other elevated metallic surfaces.  I welcome the cool weather with open arms!

The Chill is Back!

Note:  I had hoped to get the September Weather Summary and 09-10 Water Year summary posts in tonight, but needed to do some data entry for CoCoRaHS.  I had computer issues this summer, and was without access for most of the summer.  We're back online now, but the data entry took longer than expected.  I'm hoping to get the summaries up soon...lots to talk about.

But for now, a quick commentary on mid-Missouri weather as of October 2nd

Since I was young, I've always pondered the official beginnings of the season according to the calander.  My birthday lands on December 9 which to me has always felt like winter.  Snow, cold, no leaves...winter.  It always confused me that it is still fall until just days before Christmas. 

I think, however that the Autumnal Equinox is a very good dividing line many years that marks the beginning of fall.  When the wind shifts to the north, it brings drier and cooler air than it has for the past few months.  The freshly-cut corn and bean fields fill the air with the memories of hay rides and fall festivals.  This year was no different.  We topped out at 90 degrees this September, with many more days in the mid to upper 80s throughout much of the month.  But the last week or so was just plain nice.  Tomorrow night, we will even have a chance for our first frost to greet us.  This is fast becoming my favorite time of year.

I have a lot to talk about in my September summary, which is why I'm choosing not to write the post now.  Some highlights are the high temperatures, reaching our yearly rain total this month, and some ponderings on the increasing rain intensities over the past 30 years. 

Oh, and we're up to 20 mows now.  Hopefully we're getting close!