FEBRUARY 2019 MONTHLY SUMMARY ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND
by Kevin Shaw, Observer
February 2019 was milder and a bit wetter than normal, based on new normals
for my station developed out of the Oregon State Univ. PRISM program. My
max temp (45.7°) was 0.9° above normal but my min temp (31.8°) was a much
more significant 5.0° above normal, resulting in the mean temperature (38.7°)
to be 2.9° above normal. My total precipitation of 3.44″ was 0.69″ above the
newly computed normal precipitation February value for my station of 2.75”.
Monthly total snowfall was 7.3”, bringing the seasonal total to 24.3”, probably
about normal for this time of the winter. Snow normals are not computed by
PRISM that I know of but I believe this February amount is about normal for
the month.
There was only one really cold day during the month (maximum on the 1st of
21.6° with the minimum the next morning on Ground Hog Day the coldest min
for the month at 13°). Unlike the single digit mins of the last two days of
January at the beginning of this short cold spell there were no single digit
mins recorded in February. .
There were 11 days with measurable precipitation, highlighted by the monthly
maximums of 0.75″ on the 20th and 24th accompanied by my monthly lowest
pressure reading of 29.47 on the 24th and the 5.5” of snow on the 20th as
the max snowfall day of the month. The wettest storm period of the month
was on the 10th-12th when a total of 1.27” was recorded. The highest
barometric pressure reading of the month of 30.80” on the 9th occurred
just the day before this storm started. This reading is now the highest of
2019, and highest since 30.83” was recorded last year back on February 13.
There were no other notable precipitation days during the month with just
a few widely spread out small amounts of rain and/or snow.
The highest dew point temperature reached during the month was 53° on
the 5th just 4 days after the lowest dew point temperature value was
reached during the month with the only below zero reading of -2° recorded
on February 1.
February had 11 cloudy days, 14 partly cloudy days, and 3 clear/sunny days.
There were 736 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days during the
month. There were 11 foggy days, 3 windy days, 3 days with glaze, 2 days
with sleet, and 4 days with snowfall during the month. The windy day
category is subjective with no personal real data values to back it, just
based on my descriptive email daily weather posts that are posted on
weathertogether.net.
Daily max/min temperatures varied a bit less than they did in January.
My maximum temperature frequencies included 2 days between 60° and
69°, 9 days between 50° and 59°, 7 days between 40° and 49°, 9 days
between 30° and 39°, and 1 day below 30°. On the minimum temperature
frequency side of things, there were 2 days between 10° and 19°, 8 days
between 20° and 29°, 14 days between 30° and 39°, and 4 days between
40° and 49°. The coldest daily max temperature was 21.6° on the 1st
while the warmest daily min temp of 46.8° was on the 15th.
The diurnal range daily monthly average was 13.9° (- 4.1°). Our greatest
daily range of temperature was 27.3° on the 4th, formed from a high of
58.8° and the low of 31.5°. We had a total of 7 days with daily ranges
above 20.0°. Our lowest range of temperature was 2.6° (33.9°-31.3°) on
the 12th during our biggest precipitation event of the month. There were
a significantly above normal 12 total days with diurnal temperature ranges
of less than 10.0° throughout the month. Many cloudy/rainy days held the
daily variation to these low values and also the still low sun angle helped to
suppress this month’s daily diurnal ranges.
Fortunately I’ve had no more problems with my VP2 weather station as I
did early last year. I am constantly checking on my data quality frequently,
along with discussion and data comparison with several of my Maryland
weather cohorts and reliable online close-by observer data locations. I
made considerable use of a snow stake placed in the ground just below
and out from my balcony this winter that I read easily with the help of
binoculars to help supplement my new snow and snow on the ground
amounts when it is too dangerous to go out to my snowboard as often
as I would like to. I continue to occasionally (as time allows) submit
GLOBE Cloud observations, complete with submission of sky pictures
at the time of the observation, usually timed with the passage of
satellites and/or solar noon (about 70 minutes past actual EDT noon).
Please ask me any questions you want at any time about my station
setup and/or my data through any means available to you.
FEBRUARY 2019 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND – SUMMARY STATISTICS
Average high temperature 45.7° (+ 0.9°)
Average low temperature 31.8° (+ 5.0°)
Mean temperature 38.7° (+ 2..9°)
Precipitation 3.44″ (+0.69”)
Greatest daily amount (dates) 0.75″ (20,24)
Greatest storm total (dates) 1.27” (10-12)
2019 year-to-date precipitation total 7.36″ (+1.70”)
Snowfall 7.3”
Greatest daily amount (date) 5.5″ (20)
Greatest storm total (dates) 5.5” (20)
Seasonal snowfall total 24.3″
High temperature for the month (date) 67.3° (5)
Low temperature for the month (date) 13.0° (2)
Highest barometric pressure (date) 30.80” (9)
Lowest barometric pressure (date) 29.47” (24)
Peak wind gust (date/direction): N/A
Heating degree days for the month: 736
Cooling degree days for the month: 0
Greatest diurnal range (date) 27.3° (4)
Least diurnal range (date) 2.6° (11)
Number of days:
Fog 11
Windy 3
Snow 4
Sleet 2
Glaze 3
Cloudy 11
Partly Cloudy 14
Sunny/Clear 3
Max temp ≥ 60° 2
Max temp =< 32° 1
Min temp =< 32° 15
Precip ≥ 0.01” 11
 |
Virus-free. www.avast.com |
