Signs of Spring

Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Tasty Herbs, and Trout.  All have been signs that Spring is finally here in Missouri.  Even the mix of rain, sleet and snow as of this posting isn't dampening my spirits.  I feel renewed and refreshed by the warmer weather and SUN that has been greeting us--although fleetingly--lately.  What follows are three glimpses of spring that makes this weather lover and outdoor enthusiast smile.

March 10 -- Thunderstorms...Tornado

March 10 gave us three "firsts" this year.  The first day above 70°, first day with thunder, and first tornado warning (and confirmed EF0).  The temperature climbed up to 74° under a sunny sky, the climax of a week's worth of rising temperatures.  In the spring, though this usually brings the same anticipation as climbing up the hill on a rollercoaster.  You know that after you peak, you're in for a rough ride.  And, to a point, we did on that Wednesday.

I hurried to get the steaks grilled that afternoon (oh, another "first" for the year) as I could see the dark clouds coming in, and even reports of Severe Weather in the area.  We had a little storm pass around 4:30 pm.  By bedtime, I had no reason to believe there would be any more severe weather.  I was awaken at 10:30 with the town's tornado siren, and thought "surely that couldn't be!".  Sure enough, there was a doppler indicated tornado south of the area, moving slightly to our East.  After some tense moments, the storm passed with no incident.  Fulton spotters reported 1" hail, but I didn't have anything at my location.  Appropriately, this was Missouri's Severe Weather Awareness Week.

Tasty Herbs

Picture taken on March 12.  The plants in the middle are Columbines, and Chives are popping out of the ground.  I was able to use some on my potatoes and trout dinner a couple of days ago.  Tasted like summer!

Trout Fishing!

Trout season opens March 1st in Missouri, and I made my first outing last Wednesday.  It was a cloudy morning, but the sun peeked out after noon.  It was a magnificently fulfilling day.  I can't imagine a better way to view God's beauty than the Missouri outdoors.

1st Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring (as of 12:32 pm), and we have 2" of snow predicted for the area.  62° by Tuesday.

"What Will Fall and Winter Bring" revisited

Back in August, I posted a comment based on a little research I did into the effects (if any) of an extremely cool summer (find the post HERE). July 2009 gave us some very below-average temps, and although there were no complaints to be heard, I was curious how the fall and winter would play out. Now that the books are filled in, I'd like to revisit that post and see how our data compared with the previous 9 coldest July's.

 

 Fall temperatures didn't impress me either way.  If we deviated, it wasn't by too much.  The maximum deviation were by 3.1° or 3.2° during these years.  This year's fall was no different, only slightly cooler than normal.

Winter temperatures offer the same in the way of deviations.  The average of all ten of these years came out to 31.9°, where the normal was 32.0°.  This winter's deviation was -3.7°.  Below average has been very common for the past 6 months.  I wonder if El Nino has something to do with that.

Precipitation is the hot topic for fall and winter.  For fall precip, this year and 1905 were quite the outliers with a surplus of +10.05" and +9.61", respectively.  Abundant gulf moisture in October was the ticket this year, with 12.49" falling in just one month!

Winter precipitation is a much more telling story.  Look at all the black in that column.  Surplus precipitation seems very likely, with only one year shorting us a mere -0.19".  We followed suit this year with a surplus of +3.08".

Snowfall amounts during these ten sample years are below average.  The mean snowfall amounts for these years is 2.4" below average.  This year, even with an abundance of days with measurable snow, we still fell short (barring any late-season snowstorms of course).  We ended up behind by 1.8" with a total of 18.6".

So how does our friend El Nino play into this?  Not sure...but this is the only year (2009) on the data table above that occurs during an official El Nino event.  Two years on the table (1950, and 1971) occur one year before a major El Nino event. 

February Weather Summary

Cold and snowy, just as I like winters in Missouri.  I've said before that I don't mind the cold weather, as long as we get to enjoy some snow along with it.  Last year's winter seemed to drag on and on with our measley snow amounts (February 2009 recorded 0.0" of the stuff).  But this year was a nice turn around.  We had 7 days with measurable snow, and 11 days that snow was falling from the sky.  Although our winter-season snowfall amounts aren't impressive (only average at best), it has been described by many around here as a very "snowy" winter.  That is due to the fact that we've had many days with minimal accumulations, and below-average temperatures made sure that it stuck around. 

Speaking of which, so far this winter we have recorded snow on the ground 37 days.  Now, I'm not sure what is normal, but I am certain that this amount is higher than average.  Again, lower temperatures has been the cause of this.  Normally, a snow will last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days.  This month alone, we saw a 15-day stretch with a snow pack.

February Daily Observations

Temperatures

Mean Temp:  28.4°
Deviation:  (5.3°)
Maximum:  48° on Feb. 28
Minimum:  2° on Feb. 9

Heating Degree Days:  1024 |  791 Last Year
Cooling Degree Days:  0

Bob and OSNW3  have reported above average temperatures this February.  I don't know what they're doing right, but we can't hardly get above average!  We only had 4 days where the high temperature acheived a higher mark than average.  The official Columbia NWS station only recorded one!  It has been a chilly month in Missouri.  A local fruit tree farmer told me that she will probably not have any peaches or apricots this year because of it. 

 

Precipitation

Average February:  2.17"

Actual February:  2.59"  (+0.42")

Average February Snow:  5.8"

Actual February Snow:  7.0"  (+1.2")

Days with Measurable Precip:  10

Days with Measurable Snow:  7

Days with Snow Cover (>.01):  15

 

  

Days with Precip:

 

Precip Average:  2.17"

We have hit our average precip for the last three years.

 

Other Weather Info

Days with thunder:  0
Days with fog:  3
Days with wind gust (>= 20 mph):  3