MONTHLY WEATHER DATA AND OBS - WESTMONT 1.1W PA FEBRUARY 2013 OBSERVER NATE MULLINS Special Observations: F=fog, T=thunder, H=hail, S=sleet, G=glaze, DW=damaging winds Observation time for this station is midnight (Eastern US). Temperature, °F Precipitation, In. Liquid Solid 7am 24-hour At Rain Snow/ Snow Date Max Min Obs Equiv Ice Depth Special Obs. 1 20 8 8 .05 0.8 1 2 21 5 20 .18 3.5 1 3 25 14 14 .11 3.5 6 4 27 13 27 .21 1.5 8 G 5 30 25 26 .02 0.5 8 6 28 17 18 .01 0.2 7 7 35 13 29 7 8 35 21 21 .17 0.8 5 S,G 9 28 17 17 .05 1.2 6 10 43 9 35 5 F 11 57 32 35 .16 4 12 38 28 28 1 13 39 23 29 .31 4.6 T 14 40 25 36 T 0.1 4 15 38 26 26 .06 1.0 2 16 29 16 16 .04 1.0 3 17 20 12 12 .15 4.3 2 18 39 9 30 4 19 40 21 21 .17 0.5 3 S,G 20 22 14 15 .10 3.0 2 21 23 12 13 .03 1.0 4 22 26 12 26 .03 0.1 4 S 23 42 26 33 4 24 34 25 25 .01 0.2 3 25 40 23 30 3 26 33 30 33 .38 0.5 2 S,G 27 38 32 31 .39 0.9 2 S 28 31 30 30 .15 1.8 1 AVG/SUM 32.9 19.2 24.4 2.78 31.0 3.6 (avg) EXT 57 5 36/8 0.39 4.6 8 Date 11 2 14/1 27 13 5* *=Also occurred on earlier dates Miscellaneous Stats Mean Monthly Temperature: 26.1°F (-2.4°F) Year precipitation to date: 6.44" (-0.79") Monthly precipitation departure: -0.64" (Feb mean 3.42") Season snowfall to date: 68.4" Number of days with: Fog 1 Sleet 5 Glaze 4 DETAILED OBSERVATION NOTES COLD/SNOWY 1. Cold with light overnight snow and flurries and light snow showers on and off all day. Gusty W winds made for a very blustery day. Wind chills were below zero at times. 2: Mostly clear and cold early low 5 F. Steady light snow began around 10am and continued through the entire day with 3.5" of accumulation. 3: Continued cold with periods of snow continuing overnight and through the day. An additional 3.5" of snow fell today. Becoming windy after sunset with falling temperatures - quite blustery again. 4: Light snow during the AM hours, changing to light freezing rain that put a thin crust of glaze on all surfaces. 1.5" of snow/ice and 0.21" of melted precipitation. 5: Continued chilly with light W winds and light snow showers on and off throughout the day. 6: Light snow showers overnight, otherwise chilly, breezy & blustery with a few lingering flurries. 7: Slightly milder with near calm winds and rising temperatures during the latter PM hours. No precip today. 8: A rather variable day with winds shifting from SW to NW and gusty at times. A light mix of snow, sleet, rain and freezing rain, all snow after 2pm. Falling temperatures, howling winds and blowing snow late. 9: Light AM snow with another 1.2" falling and continued quite cold, breezy & blustery. 10: A chilly low of 9 F this morning with clear skies. Milder this afternoon with increasing clouds, temps rebounded to 43. Light SW winds. BRIEF WARM-UP 11: Rain showers overnight, becoming partly cloudy and mild high 57 with increasing SW winds gusting 30+ mph. 12: Very windy overnight with W winds gusting to 40 mph. Overcast early, then partial clearing with winds diminishing. Not particularly cold, high 38, however much colder than yesterday. MORE SNOW 13: Partly cloudy and calm early. Clouds increased during the AM hours with a period of heavy snow from 3 to 5 pm, 3" fell in those 2 hours. Lighter snow continued through the evening with a total of 4.6" today. 14: An overnight dusting of snow. Overcast and calm AM, partly cloudy, milder and breezy PM. 15: Mostly cloudy with light W winds and intermittent light snow from mid-afternoon on, 1.0" accumulation. 16: Cold with light snow overnight, another 1.0" fell. Partly to mostly cloudy with a few flurries. 17: Light snow overnight, overcast, quite cold & blustery with snow showers and a few heavier squalls. NW winds gusted around 30 mph. Snow tapered to flurries this evening after another 4.3" of snow today. 18: Cold & clear AM low 9 F. Sunshine through very thin, high clouds, milder with much lighter winds too. 19: Cloudy during the morning with showers of snow, sleet and freezing rain, a thin crust of glaze. Windy during the PM hours with temperatures falling steadily. 20: Another classic winter day with persistent snow showers, very chilly temperatures and strong NW winds. Another 3.0" of wind-driven snow fell today. 21: Light snow overnight (1.0") and another chilly, breezy, blustery day with scattered flurries. 22: Overcast with light sleet & freezing rain mix around midday. Occasionally gusty SW winds. 23: Mostly cloudy during the AM hours with calm winds. Becoming partly cloudy and milder by early PM. 24: Slowly falling temperatures with light NW winds and a couple of light snow showers. 25: Clear and sunny with seasonable temperatures and light W winds. Rare day with no precip and few clouds. ICY 26: Became cloudy again with increasing SE winds this morning. Freezing rain began around noon and was light but steady through the afternoon, mixing with sleet at times. 0.38" of precip and 0.5" of sleet fell. 27: Light snow & sleet this morning, then periods of rain and drizzle. Precipitation turned back to snow late this evening. Another 0.39" of precipitation today with 0.9" of snow & ice accumulation. 28: A cloudy day with remarkably steady temperatures that remained around 30.5 F the entire day. Light but steady snow, tapering to flurries after sunset with light freezing drizzle/mist this evening. 1.8" snow. MONTHLY SUMMARY Despite Punxatawney Phil's bold prediction of an early spring, winter hung tough in February, with persistent cold and almost constant light snows. While we never had a particularly heavy amount on any given day, the snow did add up to 31.0", making it the snowiest month since January 2011. Also, this was the first winter month since January 2011 with below normal temperatures. There weren't any extreme Arctic outbreaks, but all 28 days/nights had a sub-freezing low temperature, and roughly half the time (13 days) had sub-freezing highs as well. The consistently cold temperatures resulted in a modest amount of snow remaining on the ground for virtually the entire month of February. The first week, following a strong cold front at the end of January, was the coldest, with all of the first 6 days remaining below freezing and lows averaging in the teens, with the month's low of 5 on the very day of the erroneous prediction made by Phil. Despite an unusual number of days with precipitation, there was a lack of any really significant amounts, and precipitation was modestly below normal. Unlike January, almost all of February's precipitation fell in the frozen form - snow and ice.