June 8 Shelf Cloud

June has been relatively active for Missouri.  While we have experienced average precip here, the poor folks in northern MO have had an extremely wet 14 days.  Estimates for extreme northern MO are up to 10" according to the AHPS Precipitation Analysis team.

The purpose of this post, however is to share one of the most exciting clouds I've witnessed.  On the morning of June 8th, around 11:00 a.m., a rather large complex of storms eased its way southeast.  After hearing reports of a wicked shelf cloud 30 minutes ahead of the actual storm, I grabbed the camera and waited outside.  I was not disappointed!  I made an attemt (my first) at pasting together a panoramic of the clouds, but believe me the picture doesn't do the cloud justice.  This was amazing.

(For a larger view, click on the picture)

May Weather Summary

Since the last post, May dried off and heated up.  We enjoyed some sun at the beginning of the month, a wet--although not over the top--middle, and by the end, we were getting a nice welcome into summer.

MO-CW-1 Daily Observations

Temperature

Mean Temp:  64.7°
Deviation:  +1.0°
Maximum:  91° on May 24
Minimum:  41° on May 8

Precipitation

Average May:  4.97"
Actual May:  4.23"  (0.74")

Days with measurable precip:  12

Even with 12 days of measurable precipitation, we still came under the mark for the month.  This is partly due to the fact that we didn't have any 1" events, but rather more moderate amounts as shown in the above graph.  Compare this with last year's totals below.  We had 12 days of measurable precip, but over an inch more rain filled the bucket.

Other Weather Info

Days with thunder:  10
Days with fog:  4
Days with wind gust (>= 20 mph):  5

As of today (June 11), we've mowed the yard 7 times.

A Soggy Eight Days

May has been tricky this year.  We started out with clear blue skies, and for the most part above average temperatures.  But the last eight days have been a much different story.  While it hasn't come in abundance each day, it has rained on and off - sometimes very heavy, sometimes just a steady mist.  But the fact remains that it has soaked us.  The eight day total is 3.45", which is 69% of our May average.

Some Mid-May Stats:
(May 1 - 17)

Mean Temp:  59° (2.6°)

Precip Total:  3.69"

Days With Thunder:  7
Days With Fog:  3
Days With Wind Gust (>= 20 mph):  5

As of today, I've mowed the lawn 4 times.  The chives are looking beautiful - I'll have pictures of them on my monthly summary.  Not a cloud in the sky today...I'm looking for some time to dry out!

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".

MO-CW-1 Daily Observations

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

March Weather Summary

Another textbook month for Mid-Missouri.  March offered a nice respite from the usual suspects of winter by bringing more warmth, humidity, thunder, and more color to the area.  Old man winter seemed to get one more punch in on the 20th with a day filled with snow to our west and sleet in the Fulton/Jeff City area.  Other than that, it was a very nice spring-filled month.  Especially the last week.  OSNW3, it definitely went out like a lamb here, too.

March Daily Observations

Temperature

In typical March fashion, temperatures fluxuated (though not wildly) throughout the month.  The spread occurred from the beginning of the month to the end.

Mean Temp: 46.5°
Deviation:  2.4°
Maximum:  85° on Mar. 31
Minimum:  20 on Mar. 3

Precipitation

Average March:  3.14"
Actual March:  2.74"  (-0.40")

Average March Snow:  3.4"
Actual March Snow:  0.1"  (-3.3")

Days with Measurable Precip:  10
Days with Measurable Snow:  1
Days with Snow Cover (>0.1"):  1

Days with Precip:

Average Monthly Total:  3.14"

As you can see, we haven't hit our 3.4" of snow mark, nor gotten even close to it for three years now.  Spring has been coming early for us. 

Other Weather Info

Days With Thunder:  2
Days With Fog:  4
Days with wind gust (>= 20 mph):  3

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.