inside weather: line of the day log

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METAR KDEN 222353Z 04010KT 1SM -FZDZ FZFG OVC003 M02/M03 A3027 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3 FZDZB28SNB21E39 CIG 003V007 SLP263 P0000 60000 T10221028 10011 21022 51017

That station is Denver from the 5:53 pm MDT METAR report. Freezing precipitation is probably the worst type of precipitation because in a lot of cases, it can be invisible on the roads when it accumulates and once you come across it, you'r usually slipping and sliding. Freezing drizzle is occuring throughout the Front Range of Colorado this evening with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. Cold air behind a strong cold front entrenched at the surface but just above the surface, west to southwesterly winds are advecting in warmer air so as the frozen precipitation falls in that above freezing air, it melts until it reaches the below freezing surface where it freezes on contact. That's known as freezing rain or freezing drizzle in this case so let's dissect this report. Winds were out of the northeast at 11 mph with 1 mile visibility and a temperature of 28 degrees and a dewpoint of 27 degrees. There was light freezing drizzle and freezing fog reported. The ceiling was overcast 300 feet above the surface. Surface visibility was 3 miles. Initially, light snow fell and began at 5:21 ending at 5:39 with the freezing drizzle beginning at 5:28. And a trace of snow/freezing drizzle had fallen. Due to the ground being so warm, ice accumuluations should stay on vegetation or on metal surfaces but the bridges and overpasses are also suceptible.

SPECI KCRP 242008Z 34028G39KT 1/4SM +TSRA FG SCT005 BKN017CB OVC028 22/21 A2984 RMK AO2 PK WND 34039/2000 WSHFT 1948 CONS LTGICCCCG OHD-ALQDS TS OHD-ALQDS MOV NE P0161 $

That station is Corpus Christi, TX from the 3:08pm CDT special METAR report. Corpus has been hit twice in as many days by severe weather. On Wednesday, they had a 75 mph wind gust at the airport which damaged 4 commercial aircraft, a bus shelter, windows in a constructed terminal and a fuel tank with its windows blown out. 36 hours later we come to today and a large tornado has swept through the city doing extreme damage and killing one person. The tornado was first spotted at 2:19pm, 8 miles south of the airport then it moved north-northeast towards a college where buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed. People were trapped in collapsed buildings and the fatality occured in the school library. Many injuries. That occured at around 2:45pm. Then the tornado moved northeast and damaged a storage tank at a Citgo refinery in the port of Corpus Christi. A tornado warning was in effect until 3pm for the county. The tornado heavily damaged the west side of the city, staying to the east of the airport. Which leads to this report. Dissecting it, winds were out of the northwest at 32 mph gusting to 45 mph. There was a quarter mile visibility and a heavy thunderstorm at the time. There was fog with scattered clouds at 500 feet, broken cumulonimbus at 1700 feet, and overcast skies at 2800 feet. The pressure was 29.84 inches in mercury with that 45 mph wind gust occuring at 3:00pm with a wind shift presumably as the tornado passed to the east at 2:48pm. There was continuous in cloud, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground lightning overhead and all quadrants of the sky which was also where the thunderstorm was. It was moving northeast and there had been 1.61 inches of rain recorded however the equipment needed maintenance so it was not clear whether that occured in the 3pm hour or carried over from the 2pm hour. There was a flash flood warning with flooding all throughout the city and a severe thunderstorm watch in effect at the time.

SPECI KCHD 262101Z 30015G21KT 5SM TS RA BKN070 BKN095 18/12 A2972 RMK TSB01 LTG OVHD

That station is Chandler, AZ from the 2:01pm MST special METAR report. Hail producing thunderstorms in the Phoenix area Saturday afternoon compliments of a mid-upper level low with a pool of cold air aloft and with the relatively warm temperatures at the surface, that created a lot of instability for thunderstorms to form and hail reached the size up to dime size around the time of this observation. So dissecting this report. The wind picked up out of the northwest at 17 mph, gusting to 24 mph. There was a thunderstorm with moderate rain and 5 mile visibility. Just 16 minutes earlier, the visibility was at 30 miles! There were broken clouds at 7,000 feet and another broken cloud deck at 9,500 feet. The temperature was 64 degrees with a dewpoint of 54 degrees so you might expect there not to be a lot of rainfall. The thunderstorm began at 2:01 with lightning reported overhead. That thunderstorm only lasted 9 minutes and by 2:12, dime size hail was reported in southwestern parts of Phoenix. No word on any damage or injuries though.

METAR KRCA 291755Z 33021KT 7/8SM -SN BLSN VV005 M04/M05 A3022 RMK PK WND 33043/30 WND DATA ESTMD SLP270 60003 4/001 53012 LSR19P

That station is Ellsworth AFB, SD from the 10:55am MST METAR report. Much of the western part of South Dakota into Wyoming has been hammered by snow and blowing snow all day long. A cold front passed southward allowing the arctic air to move through. Also, an upper trough was over head helping enhance the instability and lift and what we've been seeing is mainly upslope snows in this region. The rain snow mix changed to all snow in Ellsworth at 3am with temperatures falling below freezing and strong north to northwesterly winds. So deciphering this METAR report, The winds were sustained out of the northwest at 24 mph with 7/8ths of a mile visibility. They reported light snow and blowing snow with a vertical visibility of 500 feet and a temperature of 25 degrees and a dewpoint of 23 degrees. The pressure was 30.22 inches. A peak wind in the hour came at 10:30 out of the northwest gusting to 49 mph so there was blizzard like conditions for a time there. The highest wind gust all day was at 52 mph around midday. In the last 3 hours there's only been .03 inch of water equivalent. It's hard to measure when you're having winds of 40 to 50 mph blowing the snow around. And at this time, they did record an inch of snow on the ground. By sunset, they had 2 inches of snow on the ground but again, there may have been more due to the winds. Fairly light snow fell all day however. Winter storm warnings are in effect for up to 7 inches of snow before all said and done.

ETAR KOLM 311354Z AUTO 00000KT 7SM CLR M08/M09 A3031 RMK AO2 SLP269 T10781094

That station is Olympia, WA from the 5:54am PST METAR report. Extreme cold getting into the Pacific Northwest largely due to an upper low, which has a cold reservoir of air and it spread some of the arctic outbreak into portions of Washington state. This is very cold air with temperatures in the teens in a lot of locations. Including Olympia so I'll decipher this report for you. There was a calm wind with clear skies and 7 mile visibility. The temperature was 18 degrees with a dewpoint of 15 degrees. The pressure was high at 30.31 inches or 1026.9 millibars. It got down as low as 14 degrees earlier in the morning which shattered the previous record of 23 degrees making this the coldest October day ever. Record lows in Olympia can get lower with teens being recorded there in the early days of November culminating with an all time record low in late December/early January getting close to -10 degrees!

METAR KLGB 031456Z 33005KT 1/8SM FG VV001 10/10 A2992 RMK AO2 TWR VIS M1/4 SLP132 T01000100 50000

That station is Long Beach, CA from the 6:56am PST METAR report on Sunday morning. A near 200 car pileup occured on I-710 or the Long Beach Freeway close to the city of Long Beach Sunday morning. Over 40 people were injured, 9 critically. It was a chain reaction wreck with visibility down to 50 feet by police accounts at the time. So dissecting this METAR report, the winds were blowing out of the northwest at 6 mph, an indication that the fog was being advected off by the land, however the visibility was at its l owest then at just an eighth of a mile with fog and a verticial visibility of just 100 feet. The temperature was 50 degrees and the air was saturated with the dewpoint at 50 degrees. Pressure was at 29.92 inches or 1013.2 millibars which is about what the standard sea level pressure should be at sea level. The visibility in the control tower at the Long Beach airport was less than a quarter of a mile so it was terrible conditions and obviously the catalyst for this huge pileup. Very shallow surface inversion and with an offshore gradient, it is not what you'd typically see for very dense fog but it was dense enough for the accidents.

METAR KNSE 051955Z 18017KT 7SM SCT015 BKN020 OVC080 26/23 A2977 RMK/ SLP077 TORNADO II SET T02560233

That station is Whitting Field, FL from the 1:55pm CST METAR report. This is in the town of Milton, FL and thunderstorms ahead of a powerful cold front were moving through the Florida Panhandle, sparking tornado watches and numerous tornado warnings. About 2 and a half hours earlier, a tornado occured in Escambia County, which is where Milton is, but with no damage. But in this situation which I'm about to present, the tornado happened before the thunderstorm. So dissecting it, winds were out of the south at 20 mph with 7 mile visibility, scattered clouds at 1500 feet, broken clouds at 2000 feet and overcast clouds at 8000 feet. The temperature was 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 74 degrees, so it was very warm and very moist, and the pressure was at 29.77 inches or 1007.7 millibars with a tornado reported. So you see, they reported a tornado and there was a tornado warning issued for Escambia County in the 2pm hour. No damage or any reports from this tornado at Whitting. The next report came at 2:22 with no tornado reported again and a thunderstorm was beginning. Strongest wind damage came around 3 in Milton. So the storms across the Gulf Coast today did drop tornadoes. The environment was very moist, warm and unstable but these were mostly low topped supercells and weak tornadoes because the upper level support wasn't there. There was however, just enough wind shear in the low levels with the convection to spin down the vorticies.

METAR KSFO 072356Z 17022G30KT 4SM RA BKN022 BKN044 OVC060 18/14 A2975 RMK AO2 PK WND 16037/2342 TSB47E53RAB15 SLP074 OCNL LTG NW P0008 60009 T01780144 10194 20172 56022

That station is San Francisco from the 3:56pm PST METAR report. A major storm system, the first of the year, was slamming into the West Coast today with very high waves and surf, heavy rains along the coast and in inland valleys and very high elevation heavy snows. The pipeline of moisture was traced as far west as the tropical Pacific west of the International Dateline. And in many cases, this was the first rainfall since July. That was the case in San Francisco today. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the south at 25 mph, gusting to 35 mph with moderate rain and a broken cloud deck at 2200 feet, broken also at 4400 feet, and overcast at 6000 feet. The temperature was 64 with a dewpoint of 58 degrees so it was quite muggy. The pressure was at 29.75 inches or 1007.4 mb. Peak wind came out of the south-southeast at 43 mph at 3:42 and winds like that were no doubt crashing waves on the Bay side with swells slamming the Pacific side too so it wasn't a good day to be out on the water to say the least. And oddly enough, this was on the back edge of a line of thunderstorms that roared through the Bay Area. The rain preceded the thunderstorm at 3:15, but the lightning and thunder began at 3:47pm and ended at 3:53pm, so it was a quick one and quite unusual to see here. At the time of the report with the thunderstorm passed, there was occasional lightning toward the city to the northwest of the airport. .08 of an inch fell in the hour with .09 of an inch in the past 3 hours. Heavy rain followed, snarling traffic in the Bay Area and allowing for the issuance of an urban flood advisory through the evening. But since it was the first rain of the season, streams and rivers could handle the water so flooding wasn't expected from those sources. Through late afternoon, .60 inch of rain fell in San Francisco today.

METAR KAST 121455Z AUTO 18025G38KT 10SM -RA FEW034 OVC060 13/11 A2983 RMK AO2 PK WND 18041/1441 SLP100 P0008 60018 T01280106 53009

That station is Astoria, OR from the 6:55am PST METAR report. A strong cold front was passing through the Astoria area this morning at the time of this observation. It was quite windy and the seas were angry just offshore with 30 foot seas 340 miles west of Astoria and winds gusting to 71 mph. Most of the wind energy moved northward but as the cold front made its approach to the coast, winds gusted over 60 mph in Cannon Beach, OR this morning around the time of this report. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the south at 29 mph, gusting to 44 mph. There was 10 mile visibility and light rain falling. There were a few clouds at 3400 feet and overcast conditions at 6000 feet. The temperature was 55 degrees with a dewpoint of 51 degrees. Pressure was at 29.83 inches or 1010 mb. At 6:41, a peak wind from the south was recorded at 47 mph. .08 of an inch of rain fell in the hour with .18 inch of rain falling in the last 6 hours.

METAR KMLP 141953Z AUTO VRB06G18KT M1/4SM -SN FZFG VV001 M02/M02 A3011 RMK AO2 UPB44E50SNE44B50 SLP223 P0001 T10171017

That station is Mullan Pass, ID from the 1:53 pm MST METAR report. Even though there was a surface high, a shortwave moved across northern Idaho and helped induce mountain snows with also some enhancement from upslope due to winds hitting the mountains and that air cooling, and condensing. But this was a unique report because you had the snow but you also kept that fog in there. So dissecting this report, the winds were variable at 7 mph, gusting to 21 mph. There was less than a quarter mile visibility with light snow and freezing fog. Vertical visibility was only 100 feet and the temperature and dewpoint were at 29 degrees. The pressure was at 30.11 inches or 1022.3 millibars. Now they had sleet also in this hour, that's what the UP presumably means and that sleet began at 1:44 just when the snow ended but the sleet ended at 1:50 just when the snow began. They danced between precipitation types all day and also the winds were quite variable, going light at some times and then at others, gusting over 25 mph. .01 inch of water equivalent was reported in the hour.

METAR KFXE 161953Z 18008KT 10SM +FC FEW019 BKN036 25/22 A2977 RMK WATERSPOUT B49 AO2 RAB1855E34 SLP083 WATER SPOUT 7SE P0003 T02500222

That station is Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, FL from the 2:53 pm EST METAR report on Saturday. Severe weather was ongoing in Florida on Saturday afternoon, ahead of a strong cold front punching into a very warm, moist, and unstable airmass. There weren't many severe weather reports in the state with one F0 tornado reported near Melbourne, a wind gust to almost 55 mph in Everglades City and some wind damage from storms later on in Broward County. But this one was an interesting report from Fort Lauderdale. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the south at 9 mph. There was 10 mile visibility with a tornado, in this case a waterspout, reported with few clouds at 1900 feet and broken clouds at 3600 feet. The waterspout began at 2:49pm and was 7 miles to the southeast of the airport over the Atlantic. The waterspout ended at 3:17pm and there were no reports of damage or injuries from it. It did not come on land. The temperature was 77 degrees with a dewpoint of 72 degrees, so it was quite muggy and conditions were ripe for spinups be it over land or water. The pressure was at 29.77 inches or 1008.3 millibars. It rained during the hour, beginning at 1:55 but ending at 2:34 depositing .03 inch in the hour. Thunderstorms would move into the Fort Lauderdale area in the next couple of hours bringing wind gusts of 40 mph.

METAR KCHS 191156Z 34003KT 8SM FEW250 02/01 A3036 RMK AO2 SLP281 T00220011 10039 20022 53003

That station is Charleston, SC (Airport) from the 6:56 am EST METAR report. The coolest readings since early spring graced the low country of South Carolina and Georgia this morning. Frost was widespread well inland as temperatures fell to the upper 20s and low 30s inland. Charleston at the airport recorded their lowest temperature since March 23. So dissecting this METAR report, winds were light out of the northwest at 3 mph. There was 8 mile visibility with few clouds at 25000 feet and a temperature of 36 degrees and a dewpoint of 34 degrees. Pressure was at 30.36 inches or 1028.1 mb. The high temperature the past 6 hours was 39 degrees with the low, the current temperature of 36. 36 was the low and it was 9 degrees below normal and 11 degrees warmer than the record low. The closer you got to the coast, the warmer it got. The marine influence kept downtown Charleston in the upper 40s with a low of 48 degrees.

METAR KJKL 220053Z AUTO 29012G17KT 4SM TSRA BR BKN008 BKN015 OVC043 07/06 A2971 RMK AO2 PK WND 27029/0013 LTG DSNT NE AND E TSB17 SLP060 P0013 T00720061

That station is Jackson, KY from the 7:53pm EST METAR report. A strong vort in the mid levels was traversing areas of southeast Kentucky this evening. And despite the cold air, the dynamics were enough in the atmosphere as well as the strong temperature contrasts from the surface on up adding to the instability so that thunder and lightning were observed. So dissecting this report, winds were from the west-northwest at 14 mph, gusting to 20 mph. There was 4 mile visibility in a thunderstorm with mist and broken clouds at 800 feet, another layer of broken clouds at 1500 feet, and overcast conditions at 4300 feet. The temperature was 45 degrees with a dewpoint of 43 degrees. Just an hour earlier, it was 54 degrees so that line of heavy rain and thunderstorms transported the colder air from aloft to the surface and temperatures crashed. The pressure was at 29.71 inches or 1006 mb. A peak wind gust out of the west at 33 mph occured at 7:13, just before the thunderstorm began. The thunderstorm started at 7:17. Lightning was distant northeast and east of the site. There had been .13 inch of rain in the hour. It started raining there at 6:47 pm and was heavy at times. The thunderstorm ended after this report at 8:01pm.

SPECI KBOS 231433Z 27022G32KT 1 3/4SM -SN OVC022 02/M02 A2932 RMK AO2 PK WND 27035/1404 TWR VIS 2 SNB17 P0000

That station is Boston from the 9:33am EST Special METAR report from Saturday. Strong storm system offshore deepened as it moved northeast creating a lot of wind energy over the land areas. And as the cold air rushed in behind the system, the leftover rain changed over to a brief period of snow. In fact, it was Boston's first snowflakes of the season as they recorded a trace of snow on Saturday. They didn't get any November snow last year and for the last 4 Novembers, 3 of them have been snowless. So deciphering this special report, winds were out of the due west at 25 mph, gusting to 37 mph. It was an off shore wind so the marine influences were pretty negligible at this point. There was one and three quarter mile visibility and light snow falling with an overcast cloud deck at 2200 feet. The temperature was 36 degrees with a dewpoint of 28 degrees, which was falling rapidly with the dry west wind. The barometer was at 29.32 inches, pretty low. They had a peak wind gust at 40 mph from the west at 9:04am. Tower visibility was 2 miles as the snow began falling just after the strong wind gust at 9:17am. And it registered a trace of water equivalent. Rain ended at 8:43 so there was a period of transition before the snow started falling. At this time, the snow was its most intense as it quickly ended at 9:48. No real problems due to the warm ground and they officially picked up a trace of snow for the day.

ETAR KEND 032055Z COR 04015KT 4SM -FZRAPL BR BKN020 OVC030 00/M01 A3024 RMK WND DATA ESTMD SLP252 60009 8/5// 9/8// 56007 RAIN FRZG ON METAL OBJECTS WR// COR 2125

That station is Vance AFB, OK from the 2:55pm CST METAR report. A cold front pushed through the northern and central part of Oklahoma yesterday and as high pressure, arctic in nature, built in, it advected in much colder temperatures out of the east and northeast into the area. At the same time, a developing area of low pressure tapped in moisture from the south with enhancement of the subtropical jet above producing precipitation. At Vance AFB, they've seen everything today from drizzle to start to rain and sleet to freezing rain to snow and this evening, they had a freezing rain, sleet, and snow mix. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the northeast at 17 mph. There was 4 mile visibility with light freezing rain and sleet and mist. A broken cloud deck at 2000 feet and an overcast deck at 3000 feet. The temperature was at 32 degrees with a dewpoint of 30 degrees and the pressure was at 30.24 inches or 1025.2 millibars. Over the past 3 hours, .09 inch of water equivalent precipitation had fallen there. They remark that rain was freezing on metal objects and this is during the daytime so conditions there have been deteriorating all day. They're below freezing this evening with a winter storm warning and that freezing rain and sleet should change to all snow there as more cold air continues to pour into the region.

METAR KGSO 051154Z COR 05007KT 4SM FZRA BR BKN008 OVC012 M01/M01 A3004 RMK AO2 CIG 006V010 SLP181 P0013 60054 70094 4/004 T10061011 10000 21011 58016 $

That station is Greensboro, NC from the 6:54am EST METAR report. Hard hit from this early season winter storm was the piedmont of North Carolina. On top of their fall of snow was a coating of thick ice. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the northeast at 8 mph with 4 mile visibility and moderate freezing rain and mist falling. There were broken clouds at 800 feet, overcast at 1200 feet. The temperature was 31 degrees with a dewpoint of 30 degrees. Pressure was at 30.04 inches or 1018.1 millibars. Vertical ceiling was 600 to 1000 feet. In the hour, .13 inch of water equiavlent of the freezing rain fell. In the past 6 hours, .54 inch of water equivalent of ice fell with .94 inch of water equivalent of combined snow and ice falling in the past 12 hours. They set a record precipitation for the date with 1.38 inches water equivalent, all of that in the form of snow and ice. Back to the report, on the ground there were 4 inches of snow and that stayed through the evening with temperatures at or below freezing all day. 3.5 inches fell the day before so a half an inch of ice compacted that. By the evening today, 3 inches of snow was on the ground. The high temperature was 32 degrees, the low was 30 degrees at the time of this observation. The long period of freezing rain ended at 10:46am.

METAR KICT 070656Z 19003KT 1/16SM FZFG VV001 M03/M04 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP225 T10281039 RVRNO

That station is Wichita, KS from the 12:56am CST METAR report on Saturday morning. A 2 inch snowpack from snow last week combined with a stagnant airmass helped produce locally dense fog and freezing fog all weekend in southern Kansas, especially on Saturday. The entire day on Saturday was spent with visibilities not getting any better than 3 miles with mainly around 1 and a quarter mile visibility all day. So they were under dense fog advisories through Sunday when the visibility did get better a little as a cold front moved through. With the freezing fog, that added an extra glaze to roadways and highways were reported icy during the morning hours in the Wichita area. So dissecting this report, winds were out of the south at 3 mph and with dense fog situations, the wind blows light or not at all and this was the case. Visibility was 1/16th of a mile, that's pretty darn low. Not even a tenth of a mile visibility so it was probably a situation when you couldn't even see anything immediately in front of you. This is the worst the fog got all weekend. There was freezing fog reported so that was freezing on surfaces in the area with a vertical visibility of 100 feet. The temperature was 27 degrees with a dewpoint of 25 degrees and the pressure was at 30.15 inches or 1022.5 millibars. The sun finally broke out in the Wichita area Sunday morning.

METAR KSMP 110056Z AUTO VRB06KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG SCT002 OVC007 M01/M02 A2974 RMK AO2 SLP098 P0015 T10111017 TSNO

That station is Stampede Pass, WA from the 4:56pm PST METAR report. A powerful trough is swinging through western Washington today increasing the wind areas near the coast and the Seattle area and bringing heavy rain there at times and heavy higher elevation snows where snow advisories are in effect for the Cascades and Olympics. Some areas especially above 9000 feet could see up to a foot of snow with this system. Stampede Pass is in the advisory and dissecting this report, the wind was variable at 7 mph with a quarter mile visibility, heavy snow, freezing fog, with scattered clouds at 200 feet and overcast clouds at 700 feet. The temperature was 30 degrees with a dewpoint of 29 degrees. The pressure was at 29.74 inches or 1009.8 millibars and that continues to rise as the trough pulls east of them. There's been .15 inch of water equivalent of snow there in that hour, so its coming down hard. If you use a 10:1 ratio, that equates to 1.5 inches of snow in just that hour but it could fluff up more than that. They started this morning with 2 inches of snow on the ground before the snow started and they've been getting at times heavy snow for most of the day.

SPECI KRNO 150019Z 18043G71KT 2 1/2SM DU SCT045 OVC060 11/M05 A2965 RMK AO2 PK WND 16071/0017 VIS 1 1/2V5 PRESRR

That station is Reno, NV from the 4:19pm PST special METAR report on Saturday. This was the record report for Reno. The all time highest wind gust ever recorded there brought on by a very powerful storm hitting the west coast. A lot of jet dynamics and surface dynamics with a very tight pressure gradient over the Sierras. Winds gusting to over 130 mph were common and they did damage to roofs on buildings, blowing over tractor trailers on I-80, causing trees to fall on power lines with power outages, and wreaking havoc in every other possible way. Complicating matters was precipitationi falling at the same time and it was a mess in much of the Tahoe region on Saturday. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the south sustained at 49 mph, gusting to 82 mph. That broke the wind gust record by 2 mph which was originally set on January 10, 1968. All that wind was reducing visibility, as it was down to 2 and a half miles at this time. There was dust reported in the air with a scattered cloud deck at 4500 feet, overcast at 6000 feet with a temperature of 52 degrees and a dewpoint of 23. The pressure was at 29.65 inches and that 82 mph peak wind gust occured at 4:17 out of the south-southeast. The vertical visibility was at 1 and a half miles as the pressure was rising rapidly. By the end of the hour, the temperature plummeted to 40 degrees. High wind warnings were in effect all weekend in the Reno-Tahoe area with winter storm warnings for the higher elevations for snow measured in feet.

METAR KFAT 301956Z 00000KT 1 1/2SM HZ OVC027 14/11 A3032 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2 SLP267 VIS W 3 SML BINOVC T01390106

That station is Fresno, CA from the 11:56am PST METAR report. A dense fog advisory in effect for much of the morning in the San Joaquin Valley as stagnant conditions persisted under a ridge over the west. In fact in Fresno, they haven't seen improved visibilities in about a week as the weather pattern has been quite staid in the west. So deciphering this report, there was a calm wind which doesn't help matters much when you're dealing with fog and 1 and a half mile visibility with haze now reported and an overcast cloud deck of 2700 feet. So you have the hazy/foggy conditions below a cloud deck with no wind...pretty much equals more of the same air stagnation with nothing to mix the pea soup out. The temperature was 57 degrees with a dewpoint of 52 degrees. The pressure was at 30.32 inches of mercury or 1026.7 millibars. The surface visibility was 2 miles with a visibility to the west of the observation location at 3 miles. They also reported small breaks in the overcast. The forecast is for more of the same for Fresno until a weather system moves into the west to break down the ridge and scour out the fog and that could come by Friday night.

SPECI KCAR 022121Z AUTO 36020G33KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG BKN003 BKN007 OVC012 M01/M02 A2921 RMK AO2 PK WND 35033/2114 P0003 $

That station is Caribou, ME from the 4:21pm EST special METAR report on Sunday. A tightly wound storm system was spinning back heavy snows, very strong wind, and very cold temperatures. In other words, a blizzard was ongoing in northern Maine for much of the day and the Caribou area was under a blizzard warning. So this was during the height of the strongest winds and deciphering this report, winds were out of the due north at 23 mph, gusting to 38 mph. There was only a quarter mile visibility with heavy snow and freezing fog. Broken clouds at 300 feet and at 700 feet with an overcast cloud deck at 1200 feet. The temperature was 30 degrees with a dewpoint of 28 degrees. Pressure was low at 29.21 inches of mercury or in the 990s of millibars. Potent storm system. By the way, that 38 mph wind gust occured just west of due north at 4:14 pm and there had been .03 inch water equivalent of snow that had fallen. Due to the wettness of the snow, you could probably fluff that up to 0.3 inch of snow just in that half hour. For the day, they registered 1.29 inch water equivalent, a record for the date which translated to 12.6 inches of snow, another record. Snow continued to fall even after the official climate report was issued.

METAR KTVC 041553Z 30024G30KT 1SM -SN BLSN BKN005 OVC015 M07/M09 A2949 RMK AO2 PK WND 31036/1532 SLP996 VIS <1/4V1 1/2 P0000 T10671089 $

That station is Traverse City, MI from the 10:53am EST METAR report. Blizzard like conditions pummeled the northern lower peninsula of Michigan today as a tightly wound and strengthening area of low pressure moved through and helped bring winds in excess of 30 mph sustained and over 40 mph in gusts all day to the region as well as extremely cold wind chills and blinding snow blowing and drifting around. The area was under a winter storm warning but could have easily had a blizzard warning as conditions were certainly met for much of today. So dechiphering this report, winds were out of the northwest at 28 mph, gusting to 35 mph with one mile visibility, light snow falling with blowing snow and a broken cloud deck at 500 feet and an overcast ceiling at 1500 feet. The temperature was 20 degrees with a dewpoint of 16 degrees. Pressure was at a low 29.49 inches of mercury or at 999.6 millibars as the low pressure area propogated away from the area. Surface pressures during the whole storm had been as low as 986.8 millibars. At 10:32am, they had a peak wind gust out of the northwest at 41 mph so definetly, a miserable day. Visibility in the vertical was less than a quarter of a mile as ground blizzard conditions were also a big factor. And with the fluffiness of the snow, only a trace was recorded for the hour. By the end of the day, they had 10 inches of snow on the ground which is only an increase in 2 inches from the previous day. But drifts were feet tall in the Traverse City area as the blowing and drifting snow as well as snow falling continued into this evening.

METAR KDRT 080553Z AUTO 08003KT 1/2SM SN FG BKN003 OVC008 00/00 A3037 RMK AO2 SLP284 P0010 60013 T00000000 10028 20000 400720000 58001 TSNO

That station is Del Rio, TX from the 11:53pm CST METAR report as Friday turned into Saturday. Winter weather advisories were issued for a good part of the Rio Grande Valley as moisture streamed in over a very strong intrusion of cold air and the end result was snow and sleet very far to the south. Like here in Del Rio, TX which last saw snow on November 8, 2000, they haven't seen a measurable snowfall since October 30, 1993. So let's decipher this report where they had winds out of the east at 3 mph with a half mile visibility, moderate snow falling with fog, broken cloud deck at 300 feet and overcast at 800 feet with a temperature and dewpoint of 32 degrees. The pressure was at 30.37 inches or 1028.4 millibars. In the hour, they recorded .10 inch of water equivalent and in the past 3 hours, .13 inch water equivalent. Using a the non hard and fast, standard 10:1 ratio, that would equate to 1.3 inches of snow but in the climate summary, they only recorded a trace of snow! The high the last three hours was 37 degrees with a low of 32 degrees. And for the day, the reached a high of 45 degrees with the current temp as the low of 32. So just a trace of snow in this event...yeah maybe. I don't buy it, this seems like this would count as measurable, as their first measurable snow since 93 because they had it falling at a good rate and it was registering in the bucket. Probably didn't count because there was no one outside measuring.

SPECI KALO 112035Z 27043G60KT 1 3/4SM -SN SCT025 BKN038 OVC050 03/M02 A2962 RMK AO2 PK WND 27060/2034 SNE08B34 PRESRR P0001

That station is Waterloo, IA from the 2:53on CST special METAR report. A powerful occluded front with associated mid level shortwave moved across the Midwest today. With great instability and strong dynamics, thunderstorms occured with the band of showers. But these weren't you're typical spring time severe thunderstorms...no these had snow with them. And strong wind as pressure rises behind the band of severe thundersnowstorms of over 7 millibars in a 3 hour period. That's some strong cold air advection. The winds also caused a lot of ground blizzard warnings in the Dakotas and into Iowa. Plus they did some damage along the path into Illinois this evening. A person got injured when the strong winds went through gusting as high as 74 mph. So deciphering this report in Waterloo, winds were out of the due west at 49 mph, gusting to 69 mph. There was one and three quarter mile visibility with light snow and scattered clouds at 2500 feet, broken clouds at 3800 feet and overcast cloud deck at 5000 feet. The temperature was 37 degrees, which rose pre-frontal a couple of degrees, with a dewpoint of 28 degrees. Pressure was at 29.62 inches so the front was passing through since it was up a .01 inch from a half hour previous. That 69 mph wind gust out of the west occured a minute earlier than when this report was taken. And as soon as that wind gust occured, it began snowing after ending at 2:34pm. The pressure was rising rapidly and in the rain gage, .01 inch of water equivalent had fallen in the hour. It was a short duration event though, lasting only 10 minutes with the heavy snow squall but there were some wind damage reports in Waterloo and throughout the northern and eastern part of Iowa. Ironically enough, they had a wind advisory early in the day only to have it get expired around noon.

METAR KPRC 131453Z VRB04KT 7SM -RA SCT008 BKN027 OVC035 08/07 A2990 RMK AO2 SLP088 SHRA ALQDS MTN TOPS OBSC ALQDS P0005 60019 T00780072 53003

That station is Prescott, AZ from the 7:53am MST METAR report. Prescott got one of the highest rainfall totals of the day in Arizona with almost an inch and a half of rain today. A strong southerly flow with tropical Pacific connections rain over the state today combined with a surface low and upper low which made for plenty of lift for widespread showers and thunderstorms across the state. This was the first big rainfall for the area all winter long and its a little late coming, especially in an El Nino year where usually the Southwest gets innundated by storms. So deciphering this report, winds were variable at 5 mph with 7 mile visibility, light rain reported, and scattered clouds at 800 feet, broken clouds at 2700 feet, and an overcast deck at 3500 feet. The temperature was 46 degrees with a dewpoint of 45 degrees. The pressure was at 29.90 inches or 1008.8 millibars. There were rain showers in all quadrants with all of the mountain tops obscured in all quadrants. .05 inch of rain fell within the hour and .19 inch fell within the last 3 hours there. So in and around Prescott in the higher elevations, it was pouring down rain which is good news for the region since they haven't seen much of it in months.

SPECI KOAK 160700Z 24017G39KT 1/2SM +RA FG BKN023 BKN042 OVC060 12/10 A2995 RMK AO2 PK WND 23039/0656 WSHFT 0645 PRESRR P0000

That station is Oakland, CA from the 11:00pm PST special METAR report on Saturday. A storm system entered Northern California Saturday bringing with it heavy rain and high elevation snows to the area. The San Francisco Bay Area saw between a third to the south to over 2 inches over the North Bay. This was badly needed rainfall because the region was over 3 inches below normal for precipitation for the year coming into the event. So let's decipher this report they had winds out of the southwest at 20 mph, gusting to 45 mph with half mile visibility, heavy rain and fog and a broken cloud deck at 2300 feet, another broken deck at 4200 feet, and an overcast cloud deck at 6000 feet. The temperature was 54 degrees with a dewpoint of 50. The pressure was at 29.95 inches and rising rapidly as the cold front was moving through at this time. 6 minutes later, another special METAR indicated the frontal passage. That 45 mph wind gust occured at 10:56pm and winds shifted from the south to the southwest as the cold front went through and pressures rose at 10:45pm. For the weekend, Oakland recieved 1.03 inches of rain downtown with 1.45 inches in the Oakland Hills.

ETAR KPSM 180555Z 02012KT 1/2SM R34/4500FT SN VV002 M10/M10 A3011 RMK ESTMD WND SNINCR 1/23 SLP200 60065 4/022 58034

That station is Pease Air Force Base, NH from the 12:55am EST METAR report. The President's Day storm of 2003 was winding down very early this morning but still producing snowfall rates of an inch an hour. Even parts of New Hampshire couldn't escape near blizzard like conditions and snowfall totals over 2 feet. So let's decipher this report as they had estimated winds out of the northeast at 14 mph with a half mile visibility and moderate snow with a vertical visibility of 200 feet and a temperature and dewpoint of 14 degrees. The pressure was at 30.11 inches or 1020 millibars indicating that the storm system there wasn't that strong and throughout the life cycle of this blizzard, pressures have been relatively high, not dropping below 1000 millibars. Snow was increasing one inch per hour with a total of 23 inches of snow so far from the storm. Snow depth at this time was 22 inches. In the past 6 hours, they recorded .65 inch of water equivalent precipitation. By the end of the day, Pease had a total of 26 inches of snow on the ground. Light snows continued all day but the heavy system snow departed after midnight.

METAR KGDP 202351Z AUTO 06033KT M1/4SM UP FG VV001 02/02 A2982 RMK AO2 PK WND 06036/2350 UPB30RAB34E47SNE30 SLP094 P0000 60000 T00220022 10039 20022 58013 TSNO

That station is Pine Springs, TX from the 4:51pm MST METAR report. Pine Springs is located in the Guadaloupe Mountains National Park in the Big Bend of Texas and all day, strong mid level vort energy with quite unstable conditions was over the region. With the elevation of this place and the cold core system, temperatures has stayed chilly and precipitation type has been all over the place from rain to sleet to snow. The ferocity of the mid level low in this area has also translated to the ground in the form of strong winds today with some of the convection which also led to some heavy precipitation falls at times. Visibility has been very poor there too all day long. So let's decipher this report as they had winds out of the northeast at 38 mph, visibility less than a quarter of a mile, unknown precipitation presumably sleet, some fog with a vertical visibility of 100 feet, and a temperature and dewpoint of 36 degrees. Sea level pressure was at 29.82 inches or 1009.4 millibars. A peak wind gust of 41 mph out of the northeast occured just a minute prior to the report. The unknown precipitation began at 4:30 with the rain then mixing in and beginning at 4:34 before ending at 4:47. It had been snowing in the hour before changing to the unknown precipitation ending at 4:30. Just a trace of precipitation in the hour and a trace for the last 3 hours. The high the last 12 hours there was 39 degrees and the low was the current temperature of 36 degrees. With the strong winds and cold temperatures along with the rain, presumably sleet, and snow, it must have felt miserable in Pine Springs with the moisture and the chilly wind chill. More convection was ongoing this evening in the region.

METAR KICT 232056Z 35021G30KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG BKN005 OVC012 M08/M08 A3003 RMK AO2 PK WND 35030/2053 SFC VIS 1/2 SLP186 SNINCR 2/9 P0000 60001 T10781078 53020 RVRNO $

That station is Wichita, KS from the 2:56pm CST METAR report on Sunday. A weak and compact low pressure area at the surface along with a mid level vort worked in concert to produce some locally heavy snow in southeastern Kansas today. Snow was coming down at a rate of 1 to 2 inches of hour in the area with some places seeing over a foot of snow through Sunday evening in some cases occuring in less than 12 hours. For the month, Wichita hadn't seen much snow, in fact it was well below average. All that changed today with this small but potent snowstorm. So let's decipher this report as they had winds out of the north at 24 mph, gusting to 35 mph bringing in that cold air at the surface and reinforcing it all day. That snow was blowing and drifting across the area causing lots of travel problems. Along with low visibilities all day, with a visibility at this time of just a quarter of a mile with heavy snow and freezing fog, a broken cloud deck at 500 feet and an overcast cloud deck at 1200 feet. It was quite cold with a temperature and dewpoint of 18 degrees. That 35 mph wind gust occured just 3 minutes earlier. Surface visibility was a half a mile with the heavy snow falling. Pressure was at 1018.6 millibars or 30.03 inches so it wasn't the strongest storm system in the world. Snow was increasing at a rate of 2 inches per hour and they had at this time 9 inches of snow on the ground. Later on in the evening, they had 10 inches of snow on the ground and 10 inches for the storm so far which puts it at number 9 on the all time snowstorm list in Wichita. And it was still snowing so they can climb that list. A very light and fluffy snow with just a trace of water equivalent and .01 inch of water in the past 3 hours recorded there. The snow did set a record for the date and brought their February snow total to over a foot and for the winter, they have over 2 feet of snow. Quite a departure over last year when they had less than 2 inches of snow to this point all winter.

METAR KFFO 241055Z 09006KT 3/8SM SN VV004 M04/M04 A2991 RMK WND DATA ESTMD SNINCR 1/4 SLP140 LSR10

That station is Wright-Patterson AFB, OH from the 5:55am EST METAR report. An area of moderate to locally heavy snow moved through central and southern Ohio this morning with a strong upper level disturbance. Parts of the Dayton area recieved 3 to 6 inches of snow this morning that mainly fell before 10am. Light snows sprinkled the area the rest of the day. They've been getting a lot of accumulating snows this month and this winter in the Dayton area as they are 15 inches above normal snowfall for the month and almost 2 feet above normal snow for the winter. So lets decipher this report as they had east winds at 7 mph, three-eighths mile visibility with moderate snow, a vertical visibility of 400 feet and a temperature and dewpoint of 25 degrees. The pressure was at 29.91 inches or 1014 millibars. The snow was increasing in the last hour with an additional inch of snow in the hour and a snow depth of 4 inches. And there was loose snow on the runways. The system moved out after 9am as they had a period of 6 hours with accumulating snow. However, more light snow developed there in the late afternoon.

METAR KSAN 251451Z 24014G24KT 5SM RA BR FEW008 BKN015 BKN020 13/12 A2972 RMK AO2 PK WND 15026/1430 WSHFT 1348 SLP062 VIS SE 2 1/2 P0028 60083 T01330122 55009 $

That station is San Diego from the 6:51am PST METAR report. Several bands of rain and thunderstorms moved through the San Diego area today as a mid/upper level low moved right into lower California. For the day they picked up a record 1.43 inches of rain which is a ton of rain for them considering the last time they had one inch of rain was January 11, 2001 and today produced the most rain there since February 21, 2000 with 1.59 inches. So lets decipher this report as they had winds out of the southwest at 16 mph, gusting to 28 mph. 5 mile visiblity with moderate rain and mist with a few clouds at 800 feet, broken clouds at 1500 feet and broken clouds at 2000 feet. The temperature was 56 degrees with a dewpoint of 54 degrees. Pressure at 29.72 inches or 1006.2 millibars. There was a peak wind gust out of the southeast at 30 mph at 6:30 but winds shifted as the first rain band came in at 5:48. Rain must have been coming down harder to the southeast of the location with a visibility in that direction of two and a half miles. They picked up 0.28 inch of rain in the hour and just in the last three hours amassed 0.83 inch of rain. More rain came later on in the day which helped cause some urban and small stream flooding problems. Can't blame that with some places along the coast getting over 2 inches of rain. And with this compact upper low and the instability it helped cause, there were reports of funnel clouds in the afternoon off the coast of La Jolla.

SPECI KSEA 232239Z VRB06KT 3SM GSRA BKN028TCU BKN034 07/03 A3017 RMK AO2 RAB11GSB36 TCU 1-2-4 QUADS $

That station is Seattle from the 2:39pm PST special METAR report on Sunday. A very unstable airmass persisted over western Washington on Sunday as mid level heights were quite cold below -30 degrees C at 500 mb providing for steep lapse rates as temperatures warmed greatly as you got toward the surface. The instability allowed for thunderstorms to develop and with the cold pool aloft over the area, small hail was reported. So lets decipher this report as they had winds that were variable at 7 mph. 3 mile visibility with small hail and moderate rain with broken towering cumulus clouds at 2800 feet and another broken cloud deck at 3400 feet. The temperature was 45 degrees with a dewpoint of 37 degrees. Pressure was at 30.17 inches. Rain began in Seattle at 2:11pm with the hail beginning at 2:36pm. It didn't take much warming for the showers to develop as they were near 50 not even an hour before this report before the rain began. As temperatures cooled, the hail began to fall but it's been small hail up to a quarter inch in some spots in the Seattle metro area. The small hail continued there off and on until after 3:30pm. Hail stayed below severe limits and there was no word on damage or injuries.

SPECI KHLR 252229Z 12011KT 7SM FC -TSRAGR BKN043 23/18 A2984 RMK FUNNEL CLOUD NW MOV UNKN TS OHD MOV UNKN LTGICCG WND DATA ESTMD

That station is Fort Hood, TX from the 4:29pm CST special METAR report. Severe thunderstorms blossomed during the afternoon hours along a pre frontal trough running aside the I-35 corridor in Texas. Enough speed shear was present for the updrafts to rotate and the storm that occured over Fort Hood was reported to have a funnel cloud with it, yet there wasn't a tornado warning issued for the county. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the southeast at 13 mph with 7 mile visibility, a funnel cloud reported, with a light thunderstorm with rain and hail. There was a broken cloud deck at 4300 feet and the temperature was 73 degrees with a dewpoint of 64 degrees. Pressure was at 29.84 inches. In the remarks, a funnel cloud was reported to the northwest of the reporting station with a movement unknown. The thunderstorm was overhead of Fort Hood, movement unknown. There was in cloud and cloud to ground lightning. The hail began there 3 minutes earlier and when that happened, cooling took place at the surface as the temperature dropped 6 degrees. There was a report of 1.75 inch hail in the vicinity around this time. The hailstorm must have stopped 5 minutes later when it wasn't reported and by then, the funnel cloud had dissipated. Thunderstorms continued through the late afternoon but by the evening hours, things had quieted down as the front moved through.

SPECI KGNV 271913Z 01022G30KT 1/4SM +TSGRRA FG BKN005 OVC012 17/17 A2984 RMK AO2 PK WND 27034/1855 WSHFT 1853 TWR VIS 1/2 LTG DSNT ALQDS GRB01 PRESFR GRB 1850 HLSTO 3/4 IN DIA P0102

That station is Gainesville, FL from the 2:13pm EST special METAR report. Much of the Florida peninsula was under assult from severe thunderstorms today. This evening, tornadoes raked through South Florida but earlier in the day, the storms wreaked havoc in the north central part of the state. All in part due to a shortwave in the Gulf combined with the subtropical jet stream pumping in copious amounts of moisture in the area. With increased instability we saw strong damaging wind, large hail, and tornado reports that have caused a fatality, some injuries and damage. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the north-northeast at 25 mph, gusting to 35 mph. There was a quarter mile visibility with a heavy thunderstorm with hail and fog. A broken cloud deck at 500 feet and an overcast cloud deck at 1200 feet. The temperature was 63 degrees and the dewpoint was the same. The pressure was at 29.84 inches. The peak wind gust occured out of the west at 39 mph at 1:55pm. Winds shifted around veering strongly from the northeast before the storms came to out of the west and northwest when the storms developed probably as a trough moved into the Gainesville area at 1:53pm. Hail and wind damage to the west of the airport occured around that time and then the storm moved over the airport. Tower visibility was at a half a mile. Lightning was distant in all quadrants. The hail began at 2:01 pm and the pressure was falling rapidly. The hailstone was 3/4 inch in diameter which is dime size and a criteria for severe hail. So far in the hour, 1.02 inches of rain occured. The hail ended at 2:28pm and the thunderstorm tapered off as it got closer to 3pm. Winds were beginning at this report to turn back from the northeast presumably as outflow from this thunderstorm that was moving west took hold. That spawned further thunderstorms in Gainesville later in the day. For the 2pm hour, 1.36 inches of rain fell and the city set a rainfall record for the date accumulating 2.51 inches of rain as of this evening.

METAR KBKW 302251Z AUTO VRB06KT 1/2SM TSSN FZFG FEW005 BKN010 OVC025 M03/M03 A2996 RMK AO2 TSB36 SLP177 P0001 T10281033

That station is Beckley, WV from the 5:51pm EST METAR report on Sunday. Upper level moisture overriding very cold air at the surface allowed for some heavy snowfall across much of the mountains of West Virginia on Sunday. With steep lapse rates due to very cold temperatures above the surface, there was enough instability with the snow that there was thunder and lightning to go along with it and that's what happened late in the afternoon in Beckley. So deciphering this report, winds were variable at 7 mph with a half mile visibility, moderate thundersnow, freezing fog, a few clouds at 500 feet, broken clouds at 1000 feet and an overcast ceiling at 2500 feet. The temperature was 27 degrees with a dewpoint of 26 degrees. The pressure was at 29.96 inches or 1017.7 millibars. The thundersnow began at 5:36 pm and for most of the day the snow had been falling light. So some convection overspread the Beckley area, allowed for heavier bursts of snow that accumulated to nearly a foot. .01 inch of water equivalent snow fell in the hour so the water content wasn't as high in this snow as areas to the south and east. The thundersnowstorm ended at 6:05 and that's to be expected as the instability lessens but more light snow continued into the evening.

SPECI KSLC 011816Z 16029G34KT 3SM BLDU FEW110 BKN150 OVC250 19/M06 A2969 RMK AO2 PK WND 17034/1816

That station is Salt Lake City, UT from the 11:16am MST special METAR report. Wind advisories are up for the Salt Lake valley today with wind advisories and high wind watches and warnings up for most of the day in the four corners region as a storm system over the Pacific Northwest approaches the intermountain west combined with strong winds aloft. Tight pressure gradients over Utah is driving in strong southerly winds which has blown about dust and other debris but also helped warm temperatures. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the southeast at 33 mph, gusting to 39 mph, there was 3 mile visibility with blowing dust and a few clouds at 11,000 feet, broken cloud deck at 15,000 feet, and an overcast cloud deck at 25,000 feet. The temperature was 66 degrees with a dewpoint of 21 degrees. The sea level pressure was at 29.69 inches. That peak wind gust occured just east of due south at this time at 39 mph. Winds later gusted over 40 mph as dust continued to be blown around the Salt Lake City area, especially out in open desert.

SPECI KDFW 060233Z 36017G47KT 4SM +TSRA SQ SCT023 BKN060CB BKN095 19/16 A2978 RMK AO2 PK WND 02047/0226 TSB12RAB19GRB18E22 FRQ LTGICCG E TS OHD MOV E GRB15E20 1 3/4 P0008

That station is Dallas from the 8:33pm CST special METAR report on Saturday. Supercell thunderstorms moved across the northern part of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex Saturday evening dropping very large hail, up to egg size in the metro area with up to grapefruit and softball size to the west of Fort Worth. Tornado warnings were in effect in the Dallas and Tarrant county areas in the evening when the supercells moved through but no reports of tornado touchdowns there. Large hail was the main impact from those very intense storms Saturday evening. So lets decipher this report as they had winds out of the due north at 20 mph gusting to 54 mph. There was 4 mile visibility in a heavy thunderstorm with squally conditions and a scattered cloud ceiling at 2300 feet with a broken cumulonimbus cloud ceiling at 6000 feet and another broken cloud ceiling at 9500 feet. The temperature was 66 degrees with a dewpoint of 61 degrees. The pressure was at 29.78 inches. That 54 mph wind gust occured just 7 minutes earlier out of the northeast. So the most severe part of the thunderstorm had moved east of the airport. The thunderstorm began at 8:12, rain soon followed at 8:19 with hail beginning before the rain started at 8:18 but that ended at 8:22. To the east, there was frequent in cloud and cloud to ground lightning as the thunderstorm overhead was moving east. Now, hail to the size of 1.75 inches or golfball size began falling before the rain fell at 8:15 but ended at 8:20. So far in that hour, .08 inch of rain fell and that's all that would fall. So there wasn't a lot of rain that was recorded but the wind and hail were severe so this qualified as a severe thunderstorm. More thunderstorms continued over the next couple of hours but were tamer as earlier thunderstorms helped to stablize the atmosphere.

METAR KJFK 071751Z 05013KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG VV003 M01/M02 A3056 RMK AO2 SLP347 SNINCR 2/3 4/003 933003 P0015 60025 T10111017 10022 21011 56018 PNO $

That station is New York (JFK) from the 1:51pm EDT METAR report. A strong overrunning event with cold air pooled at the surface from high pressure in Ontario combined with an upper trough helped provide heavy snow across the New York City area today. Snowfall ranged from 1 inch closer to the water to 7 inches away from the marine influence in the metro area with Central Park picking up 4 inches which was the largest snow amount in the month of April since 1982 when they had 9.6 inches and it ranked as the 8th largest April snow event. The snow fell heavy at times today. As the afternoon went on and warm air advected in off the Atlantic from east winds, temperature profiles warmed and the precipitation changed to a mix of snow and sleet to a rain and sleet to rain especially toward the coast and that translated from south to north, especially as the precipitation ended. That occured at Kennedy airport, so lets decipher this report as they had winds out of the northeast at 15 mph with quarter mile visibility, heavy snow, freezing fog with a vertical visibility of 300 feet, a temperature of 30 degrees with a dewpoint of 29 degrees. The pressure was at 30.56 inches or 1034.7 millibars. Snow was increasing at a rate of 2 inches per hour and they had 3 inches of snow on the ground. There was 0.15 inch water equivalent within the hour which translated to a 13:1 ratio. 0.25 inch of water equivalent fell in the last 3 hours. This was during the heaviest snowfall of the day and by the next hour they had 4 inches of snow on the ground. Sleet started to mix in after 5pm as warmer air advected in aloft. Soon after, the snow ended and they turned over to a freezing drizzle and sleet mix before changing to rain and then to a rain and sleet mix and the latest this evening a rain and snow mix with light precipitation and 5 inches of snow on the ground.

SPECI KSSI 082028Z AUTO 35014G18KT 3/4SM +TSRA BR BKN005 BKN008 OVC022 17/17 A3000 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT S AND SW TSB1957 P0055

That station is St. Simons Island, GA from the 4:28pm EDT special METAR report. Heavy rain and thunderstorms have been training across the Georgia coast for the last several days. Today, these storms were elevated in nature with a cold surface wedge being brought in by high pressure in the northeast and the subtropical jet stream brining lots of moisture up and over the cold dome. With disturbances riding the flow and interacting with mesoscale boundaries, numerous showers and thunderstorms occured causing lots of flooding along the coast and doppler estimates of rainfall since Monday 1 to over 7.50 inches along the I-95 corridor in Georgia. So lets decipher this report as they had north winds at 16 mph, gusting to 21 mph with three-quarters of a mile visibility, a heavy thunderstorm with mist, a broken cloud deck at 500 feet, a broken layer at 800 feet, and an overcast layer at 2200 feet with a temperature and dewpoint of 63 degrees. The pressure was at 30.00 inches. There was lightning distant south and southwest. The thunderstorm began at 3:57 and in the hour, 0.55 inch of rain was recorded. The thunderstorm ended at the top of the hour but not before dropping 0.74 inch of rain total for the hour. For the day, St. Simons Island recieved over an inch of rain.

SPECI KHVR 130446Z AUTO 04011G52KT 280V130 10SM -TSRA SQ FEW050 BKN090 OVC120 16/06 A2962 RMK AO2 PK WND 32052/0444 RAB43 P0000

That station is Havre, MT from the 10:46pm MDT special METAR report on Saturday. Strong to severe thunderstorms were ongoing along a cold front in north central Montana. The air was quite dry from the surface to aloft and in the mid levels, the air was very unstable with very steep lapse rates which aided in transporting strong winds to the surface. So lets decipher this report as they had northeast winds at 13 mph gusting to 60 mph. Winds were variable from the west to the southeast with 10 mile visibilty a thunderstorm with light rain and squalls, a few clouds at 5000 feet, broken clouds at 9000 feet and an overcast deck at 12,000 feet. The temperature was 61 degrees with a dewpoint of 43 degrees. The pressure was at 29.62 inches. That peak wind gust of 60 mph occured out of the northwest 2 minutes prior. The wind gust was near an April record for Havre. The record peak wind gust in the month was 63 mph which occured in April of 1978. Rain began 3 minutes earlier with only a trace recorded. For the hour only a trace was recorded. The thunderstorm continued for over another hour but the rain ended 40 minutes later. Temperatures dropped after the storm and skies cleared. Despite the stormy conditions, only a trace of rain fell in Havre on Saturday.

SPECI KMKL 011819Z 33020G29KT 5SM VCTS -GRRA BR FEW015 BKN046 BKN070 16/15 A2997 RMK AO2 PK WND 30043/1757 WSHFT 1755 TSE05B19RAB00GRB13 P0005

That station is Jackson, TN from the 1:19pm CDT special METAR report. An MCS moved across Tennessee this afternoon bringing widespread wind damage and reports of large hail. A bowing line of storms associated with a squall line came through the Jackson area this afternoon and with the strong winds came downed trees. Ahead of the squall line, an outflow boundary bowed out and helped to intensify existing convection and develop new thunderstorms ahead of the MCS, which is also what happened in this case. So deciphering the report, winds were out of the northwest at 23 mph, gusting to 33 mph. There was 5 mile visibility with a thunderstorm in the vicinity as light rain and hail was falling with mist present as well. There were a few clouds at 1500 feet, broken cloud deck at 4600 feet, and another broken cloud deck at 7000 feet. The temperature was 61 degrees with a dewpoint of 59 degrees. Pressure was at 29.97 inches. A peak wind gust out of the northwest at 49 mph occured at 12:57pm. That occured behind the outflow boundary which helped to shift the wind at 12:55pm. The thunderstorm ended at 1:05 but began again in the vicinity at 1:19. Rain began at 1pm with the hail starting at 1:13. So far in the hour, .05 inch of rain had fallen. The hail storm ended 13 minutes later. No measurements recorded on the hail that fell. For the hour, .32 inch of rain fell. Wind damage was reported in Jackson between 1 and 1:15pm.

SPECI KMOB 031819Z 02016G20KT 10SM TS FEW005 SCT023CB BKN034 22/17 A3005 RMK AO2 WSHFT 1800 FRQ LTGICCG N-SE TS N-SE MOV SE WALL CLD E

That station is Mobile, AL from the 1:19pm CDT special METAR report on Saturday. Thunderstorms fired during the early afternoon south of a cold front over southern Alabama. There were numerous reports of dime size or larger hail in the Mobile area during the afternoon in thunderstorms that were severe. Even reports of funnel clouds were observed as there was just enough tilt and rotation to produce that. The storms were hit or miss but if they hit a location, they dropped a lot of rainfall in a short amount of time with very rich moisture in place. So deciphering the report, winds were out of the north-northeast at 18 mph, gusting to 23 mph. There was 10 mile visibility with a thunderstorm, actually just thunder and lightning since there was no rain falling. There were a few clouds at 500 feet, scattered cloud base at 2300 feet with a cumulonimbus cloud, and a broken cloud ceiling at 3400 feet. The temperature was 72 degrees with a dewpoint of 63 degrees. Pressure was at 30.05 inches. Winds shifted at 1pm from the northwest to where they were at the time of the observation. There was frequent in-cloud and cloud to ground lightning from north to southeast of the airport with the thunderstorm in that quadrant moving southeast. They also reported a wall cloud to the east. Now that thunderstorm didn't make it to the airport, moved around it to the north and east. The wall cloud in the storm moved along with it from being oriented to the northwest and now to the east. No reports of any tornadoes dropping out of it but usually when there is a wall cloud, that's where the thunderstorm itself is rotating and tornadoes could drop out under that.

SPECI KJLN 062245Z 26011G34KT 230V290 3/4SM +TSGRRA BR FEW008 SCT055 BKN075 24/22 A2964 RMK AO2 PK WND 22034/2242 RAB42GRB42 PRESRR GR 3/4 INCH P0020

That station is Joplin, MO from the 5:45pm CDT special METAR report. After a respite, more severe weather plagued southern Missouri today as supercell thunderstorms developed south of a warm front which cut through the southern part of the state. Airmass was very unstable and led to the severe thunderstorms which brought strong winds, large hail and tornadoes to the area for the 2nd time in 3 days. Just Sunday in Joplin, they reported a tornado and today more severe weather observed at the airport. So deciphering the report, winds were out of the west at 13 mph, gusting to 39 mph with those winds variable from the southwest to the west-northwest with three-quarters of a mile visibility, a thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail with mist. There were a few clouds at 800 feet, a scattered cloud ceiling of 5500 feet, and a broken cloud deck at 7500 feet. The temperature was 75 degrees, with a dewpoint of 72 degrees. Pressure was at 29.64 inches. That peak wind gust of 39 mph came out of the southwest at 5:42pm. That occured on the leading edge of the rain and hail which also came at 5:42pm. Observors in the city of Joplin recorded between nickel and golfball size hail at 5:38pm. The pressure was rising rapidly as a meso high began taking shape. That led to a later peak wind gust of 49 mph just after the top of the hour. Hail was three-quarters of an inch in diameter which is dime size and within severe limits. And for the hour, 0.20 inch of rain fell. They added on to a .33 inch by the time the hour was up there. The dime size hail ended 4 minutes later as thunderstorms continued there for almost another hour.

SPECI KTIK 082227Z 19005G58KT 1SM +FC TSRA BR BKN008CB OVC150 22/20 A2964 RMK TORNADO 3SE MOV NE TS 2E MOV NE OCNL LTGICCG WR//

That station is Tinker Air Force Base, OK from the 5:27pm CDT special METAR report. A large, destructive tornado tore through the southern and eastern suburbs of Oklahoma City this evening and ran right through Tinker AFB. Locations that dealt with today's tornado also dealt with tornadoes from the May 3, 1999 outbreak. Major damage to a lot of structures as the clean up is underway in the Oklahoma City area this evening. So deciphering the report, winds were out of the south at 6 mph, gusting to 67 mph with a mile visibility, a tornado was occurring with a thunderstorm and moderate rain and mist. There were a broken cloud deck at 800 feet and an overcast ceiling of 15000 feet. The temperature was 72 degrees, which dropped 5 degrees in the last 7 minutes, and the dewpoint was 68 degrees. Pressure was at 29.64 inches but was rather unsteady. This was the highest pressure measurement during the storm, perhaps as the meso high took hold and helped bring the 67 mph wind gust. That occured 2 minutes prior to this observation. Winds varied quite a bit as 7 minutes later they came out of the north. The tornado was 3 miles to the southeast moving northeast. The thunderstorm was 2 miles to the east, moving northeast with occasional in-cloud and cloud to ground lightning. 1 inch hail fell 16 minutes before this observation. The tornado continued to stay to the southeast of where the observation machine was. It continued to wreak havoc before eventually going back into the clouds northeast of the base.

SPECI KBKE 250118Z AUTO 20021G42KT 2 1/2SM RA BKN042 BKN095 17/13 A2985 RMK AO2 PK WND 13051/0100 LTG DSNT W-NE P0006 $

That station is Baker City, OR from the 6:18pm PDT special METAR report on Saturday. A thermal ridge running over the eastern Oregon area from the south and east was undercutting a strong jet stream moving in from the southwest with dry air intruding in aloft providing a lot of instability with a cold front passing through at the surface bringing convergence in the lower levels. The end result were some severe thunderstorms in the southeastern part of the state that brought strong wind damage more than anything else. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the south-southwest sustained at 24 mph, gusting to 48 mph. There was 2.5 mile visibility with moderate rain falling with a broken cloud deck at 4200 feet and a broken cloud ceiling at 9500 feet. The temperature was 63 degrees, which dropped from 70 degrees before the rain fell during the first part of the hour and the dewpoint was at 55 degrees. The pressure rose rapidly than what it was at the top of the hour with meso high forming at the surface as it stood at 29.85 inches. That mesoscale feature helped in the responsibility of the strong downburst winds that came out of the southeast at 6pm at 59 mph as the peak wind gust. However, before the heaviest rain came at 5:46 pm, the wind gusted as high as 62 mph. Those wind gusts did damage in Baker as 2 foot diameter trees were blown over and a wooden outbuilding was blown away. With the dry air in mid levels getting mixed down in the thunderstorm, it was clear to see why these winds were the way they were. Also, it was likely a dry downburst with rainfall amounts for the hour so little at .06 inch so far with lightning distant west to northeast. Rain ended at 6:50 and only collected another .02 inch.

METAR KFLL 272253Z 29009KT 250V320 1/2SM +TSRA FG BKN002 OVC010 23/23 A3001 RMK AO2 PK WND 25039/2208 SLP163 OCNL LTGICCCCG OHD TS OHD P0489 T02280228

That station is Fort Lauderdale, FL from the 6:53pm EDT METAR report. A complex of heavy rain and thunderstorms developed along a convergence line in southwest Florida during the late afternoon hours and grew in coverage as it moved across the southern part of the state during the evening. Heavy rainfall rates came from that with rainfall falling over 2 inches per hour in many spots bringing about urban flooding throughout South Florida. The complex of rain with some thunderstorms moved northeast through the evening hours. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the west-northwest at 10 mph and the wind direction varied from the west-southwest to the northwest. There was a half mile visibility with a heavy thunderstorm, fog, a broken cloud deck at 200 feet and an overcast ceiling at 1000 feet. The temperature and dewpoint was 73 degrees. Pressure was at 30.01 inches or 1016.3 millibars. Earlier in the hour during the meso high portion of the storm, strong downburst winds gusted out of the west-southwest at 45 mph and that occured at 6:08 pm. There was occasional lightning in-cloud, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground overhead with the thunderstorm overhead as well. In the hour, the skies just opened up with 4.89 inches of rain! In just the last 40 minutes, 3.35 inches of rain had fallen! Plenty of available tropical moisture for the thunderstorms to feed on and in a 6 hour period ending at 8pm, 8.58 inches of rain fell in Fort Lauderdale. Most of the heavy rain focused north of Miami in the Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale area where Fort Lauderdale shattered their previous daily rainfall record of 3.10 inches with 9.84 inches today.

SPECI KEWN 292342Z 30014G31KT 1 1/2SM +TSRA BR SQ FEW021 BKN060 OVC100 16/16 A2968 RMK AO2 PK WND 32031/2336 TWR VIS 2 1/2 LTG DSNT ALQDS TSB24RAB38 PRESRR P0014

That station is New Bern, NC from the 7:42pm EDT special METAR report. A squall line of thunderstorms being forced by an upper level low moved east across the coastal plain of North Carolina. The storms were severe bringing strong gusty winds and hail to the region. They moved pretty fast and didn't drop that much in the way of rainfall however. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the northwest at 16 mph gusting to 36 mph. There was one and a half mile visibility with the heavy thunderstorm, mist, and squally conditions. There was a few clouds at 2100 feet, broken cloud deck at 6000 feet and an overcast ceiling at 10,000 feet. The temperature and dewpoint were 61 degrees. Pressure was at 29.68 inches which had rose .05 inch in the last 12 minutes as the meso high set up. At 7:30 in New Bern, a steeple was blown off a church in a possible tornado which was reportedly seen by a volunteer firefighter. The peak wind gust occured at 7:36pm out of the northwest at 36 mph. Tower visibility was at two and a half miles. Lightning was distant in all quadrants. The thunder and lightning began at 7:24pm and the rain followed at 7:38pm right after the initial gust front. The pressure was rising rapidly and so far, .14 inch of rain had fallen in the hour. By the end of the hour, .29 inch of rain fell. The storms went on to down trees in the county mainly produced by the outflow boundary in front of the line.

SPECI KPIT 082330Z 27035G49KT 8SM +RA SQ SCT045CB BKN070 OVC095 19/16 A2984 RMK AO2 PK WND 26049/2327 TSB24E30RAB22 PRESRR OCNL LTGICCCCG SW-W TS SW-W MOV NE P0019

That station is Pittsburgh, PA from the 7:30pm EDT special METAR report on Sunday. A line of intense thunderstorms moved across western Pennsylvania ahead of an occluded front with attendent low over eastern Michigan. The line was supported by a favorable jet stream region and was within a tentacle of moisture streaming out of the upper levels. Warm temperatures at the surface in concert with the cold pool aloft allowed for a steep lapse rate that allowed the storms to bring down very high wind gusts locally. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the west at 40 mph, gusting to 56 mph. There was 8 mile visibility with heavy rain and squally conditions. There was a scattered cumulonimbus cloud ceiling at 4500 feet, a broken cloud deck at 7000 feet, and an overcast cloud ceiling at 9500 feet. The temperature was 66 degrees and the dewpoint was 61 degrees. That temperature dropped 9 degrees in just 6 minutes. Pressure was at 29.84 inches which had risen .11 inch in the last 6 minutes as the meso high set up. That 56 mph wind gust occured 3 minutes earlier out of the west-southwest. The thunder and lightning began at 7:24 but ended at 7:30 with the rain beginning at 7:22. The pressure was still rising rapidly at this time. In fact, a higher wind gust occured at 7:33 as the meso high was at the location with a measure of 60 mph out of the west-northwest. Those kinds of wind felled numerous trees and did damage to a few homes and structures in the Pittsburgh metro area. There was occasional lightning in cloud, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground from the southwest to west horizon. A thunderstorm was located in that area and was moving northeast. So far .19 inch of rain had fallen. More heavy rain continued in the hour and by 8pm, 0.89 inch fell.

SPECI KBLV 102337Z 30013G31KT 2 1/2SM TSRA BR OVC040CB 18/18 A2985 RMK FC NE MOV E CON LTGICCCCACG ALQDS TS ALQDS WND DATA ESTMD WR//

That station is Scott AFB, IL from the 6:37pm CDT special METAR report. A mesoscale convective system plowed through southwestern Illinois during the late afternoon and evening bringing with it severe thunderstorms on the leading edge and heavy rain within the complex. With the squall line ahead of the heavy rain came strong damaging wind gusts that knocked trees down, power lines, highway signs, and roofs throughout the St. Louis metro area and into Illinois. Usually, these types of systems don't produce tornadoes but there were at least 3 reports of weak tornadoes just east and southeast of St. Louis probably more in the way of gustnadoes associated with the outflow from the severe thunderstorms. So deciphering this report, winds were out of the northwest at 15 mph, gusting to 36 mph. Over 20 minutes ago, winds had been out of the south-southwest so the leading edge of the severe storms had moved through. There was 2 and a half mile visibility with a thunderstorm with moderate rain and mist. There was an overcast cumulonimbus cloud ceiling at 4000 feet. The temperature and dewpoint was 64 degrees. Pressure was 29.85 inches which was up .06 inch in the last 23 minutes. There was a funnel cloud northeast of the base moving east. Just 23 minutes ago, a tornado was reported at the air force base with a funnel cloud to the east so there was a volatile, rotating atmosphere in the area. The tornado was reported at 6:14 with damage coming from around the county at 6:20 with roofs blown off homes and 6:35 with trees down on a trailer home. Those damage reports came in due to wind damage and not a tornado. Back to the report and there was continuous lightning in cloud, cloud to cloud, cloud to air, and cloud to ground in all quadrants of the sky with the thunderstorm in all quadrants and the wind data was estimated.

KMWN 071250Z 29033KT 1/16SM FZFG BKN000 M06/M06 RMK FZFG BKN000 VRY LGT ICG SUN DMLY VSBL

That station is Mt. Washington, NH from the 8:50am EDT METAR report. This is the windiest place on Earth, as measured, and the closest we'll come to a tundra climate in the United States. Standing at one of the highest points in the east, Mt. Washington was as the line suggested extremely cold this morning! With high pressure over the region, radiational cooling was maximized. So deciphering this report, winds were west-northwest at a blistering 38 mph. Visibility down to one-sixteenth of a mile, try looking at your hand in that. There was freezing fog, a broken cloud deck at cloud level, a temperature and dewpoint of 21 degrees with very light rime icing occuring and the sun dimmly visible. They had some light snow last night that has accumulated to 3 inches on the ground. With winter approaching, the weather will continue to go downhill. Though if people want to escape the warmth at lower elevations and want to see snow and feel the wind in their face, Mt. Washington is the place to go. Won't find me there, however. Haha.