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Our region's extreme run


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I believe 10/29 was also the 5th wettest day ever at BWI, but I can't recheck it since Sterling's site is still down. Once it's back up I'm going to post the top five days.

Do you or anyone else know what the records are for top wind gusts at BWI and DCA? Say, top five or top ten events. I know 7/18/10 was 72 mph at BWI, which is the highest I've ever seen in my lifetime. I assume Hazel will be the highest- I thought I saw that mentioned in another thread. I know Sandy's winds won't make the list, but it just got me curious. I'm not even sure if wind records are tracked?

I don't have the complete list, but I posted on the Hurricane Sandy thread that the highest wind gust ever recorded at DCA was 98 miles per hour during Hurricane Hazel on (Friday) October 15, 1954; see http://www.washingto...1ZtdJ_blog.html

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I don't have the complete list, but I posted on the Hurricane Sandy thread that the highest wind gust ever recorded at DCA was 98 miles per hour during Hurricane Hazel on (Friday) October 15, 1954; see http://www.washingto...1ZtdJ_blog.html

I did some digging around myself for BWI, according to this article from 2008, the highest ever was Hazel at 84 mph: http://articles.balt...ds-october-1954

However, I found the 2011 annual summary for BWI, which lists the highest gusts ever recorded each month, and it lists the July 2010 one as the highest: http://www1.ncdc.noa...9B9B324AAD9.pdf

Same deal with DCA, which lists 74 mph in March 2008 as the highest instead of Hazel: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS-06C5C259-4839-4269-8E5C-33F8B09867E5.pdf

I noticed they're all relatively recent records, so maybe the Hazel ones aren't considered to be reliable anymore?

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  • 4 weeks later...

January-October 2012 averaged 64.6 degrees at DCA, breaking the 2010 first ten warmest months record by 1.4 degrees. Further, the most recent 12 months, November 2011 to October 2012, broke the five-month-old twelve consecutive warmest months record of 61.8 set during June 2011 to May 2012 by 0.2 degrees, averaging 62.0 degrees.

With November now finalized at a below normal 46.6 degrees at DCA, the January-November 2012 average is 63.0, breaking the 2010 first eleven warmest months record by 1.0 degree. To break the annual average warmest record of 60.19 degrees set in 1991 requires a December DCA average temperature of 29.5 degrees or higher. Based on forecasts, that looks to be a sure thing, although as recently as 1989 the December DCA average was only 27.9. The all-time coldest December average temperature in DC is 27.1 in 1876.

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  • 1 month later...

With November now finalized at a below normal 46.6 degrees at DCA, the January-November 2012 average is 63.0, breaking the 2010 first eleven warmest months record by 1.0 degree. To break the annual average warmest record of 60.19 degrees set in 1991 requires a December DCA average temperature of 29.5 degrees or higher. Based on forecasts, that looks to be a sure thing, although as recently as 1989 the December DCA average was only 27.9. The all-time coldest December average temperature in DC is 27.1 in 1876.

December was nearly as warm as November at DCA, at 45.3 degrees. That made it the sixth warmest December in DC (warmest was 45.6 in both 1889 and 1984), and the 1.3 degree decline from November was the seventh smallest (smallest was 0.1 decline in 1923 from 45.1 in November to 45.0 in December). Needless to say, the annual average warmest record of 60.19 degrees in 1991 was shattered, at 61.49 degrees in 2012.

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December was nearly as warm as November at DCA, at 45.3 degrees. That made it the sixth warmest December in DC (warmest was 45.6 in both 1889 and 1984), and the 1.3 degree decline from November was the seventh smallest (smallest was 0.1 decline in 1923 from 45.1 in November to 45.0 in December). Needless to say, the annual average warmest record of 60.19 degrees in 1991 was shattered, at 61.49 degrees in 2012.

Incredible.

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Needless to say, the annual average warmest record of 60.19 degrees in 1991 was shattered, at 61.49 degrees in 2012.

Interesting Capital Weather Gang article about how unrepresentative of the DC area DCA's minimum temperature are -- http://www.washingto...weather_latest. Nonetheless, when apples to apples comparisons are made for DCA, average temperatures there have been generally increasing since National Airport became the official DC measuring station in 1945, and minimum temperatures have been increasing faster than maximums. For example, 2012's average minimum of 52.9 F beat 1991's average minimum of 51.2 F by 1.7 degrees, whereas 2012's average maximum of 70.2 F beat 1991's average maximum of 69.4 F by only 0.8 degrees. Prior to National Airport becoming the official DC measuring station, the warmest year on record in DC was 1921, with an average minimum of 48.6 F and an average maximum of 67.5 F. So, relative to that year, 2012's average minimum was 4.3 degrees warmer and 2012's average maximum was 2.7 degrees warmer. Does anyone care to speculate on what those increases would be if the official measuring station had not changed in 1945?

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The whole DCA argument is played out. People who don't understand it love to harp about it. No single point station tells you much more than the weather at that location. The best is the guy who says he did an analysis that Dulles is a better match for DC weather.

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In Mt Pleasant I had two 1+ year gaps since the 97-99 gap

 

2/11-12/06 to 2/13-14/07 and 1/17/08 to 1/27/09

 

yeah i didn't look past the top 5 (well, 6) really since that was 'easy' given the seasons with no 2" events. the markers are somewhat subjective of course.. 1.9 at DCA on 1/27 could have easily cut that stretch a bit.

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We're having a drought of precip. Since Sandy, we are about 3 inches in the hole. January looks increasingly warm and dry. The dreaded Pacific zonal firehose.

 

It's not really "since Sandy" as much as it's been dry fora long time other than Sandy.

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Depressing.

 

You just made the big-time, with the DC snow drought featured on the Weather Channel.  Of course, they managed to transpose a digit, claiming it's now 780 days, rather than 708.  And they didn't credit your research, the way Ian did in his Capital Weather Gang story.  But, if Al Roker picks up the story tomorrow morning, can fame and fortune be far behind?

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You just made the big-time, with the DC snow drought featured on the Weather Channel.  Of course, they managed to transpose a digit, claiming it's now 780 days, rather than 708.  And they didn't credit your research, the way Ian did in his Capital Weather Gang story.  But, if Al Roker picks up the story tomorrow morning, can fame and fortune be far behind?

 

When was this? Wonder if they'll show it again.

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You just made the big-time, with the DC snow drought featured on the Weather Channel. Of course, they managed to transpose a digit, claiming it's now 780 days, rather than 708. And they didn't credit your research, the way Ian did in his Capital Weather Gang story. But, if Al Roker picks up the story tomorrow morning, can fame and fortune be far behind?

Awesome. Except they didn't do the research. :(

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You just made the big-time, with the DC snow drought featured on the Weather Channel.  Of course, they managed to transpose a digit, claiming it's now 780 days, rather than 708.  And they didn't credit your research, the way Ian did in his Capital Weather Gang story.  But, if Al Roker picks up the story tomorrow morning, can fame and fortune be far behind?

 

That's funny.  Honestly, I was just venting about not seeing snow and somebody in the thread asked about the snowless drought.  I did the initial stat gathering, but Ian deserves most of the credit for the nice writeup and figures.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Research is a ****ty profession sometimes. Everyone just steals like it's no big deal.

Research is the act of taking data and observations that others have previously recorded. Who is stealing from who?

Quite like standing on someone's shoulders, and proclaiming "I'm up here by my own effort"

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One thing of note: NCDC revised the BWI July 2012 average from 81.4 to 81.5 degrees. This means that July 2012 is now tied for 2nd hottest, not tied for 5th as originally stated. So the last 3 Julys at BWI are now ranked as tied for 2nd, 1st, and tied for 2nd, respectively.

 

Incredible... this is probably the most impressive of all the heat records to me. I can't wait to see what July 2013 looks like.

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January 2013 at DCA averaged 40.3 degrees, making it the 22nd warmest January in DC, compared with 40.7 last year (17th warmest). The December-January average was 42.8 degrees, making those first two months of the meteorological winter the 6th warmest, just behind last year's 42.9 for those two months (5th warmest).

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  • 4 weeks later...

January 2013 at DCA averaged 40.3 degrees, making it the 22nd warmest January in DC, compared with 40.7 last year (17th warmest). The December-January average was 42.8 degrees, making those first two months of the meteorological winter the 6th warmest, just behind last year's 42.9 for those two months (5th warmest).

February 2013 appears to be finalized at 38.3 at DCA, making it 0.7 degrees below the 1981-2010 normal, and tied for the 56th warmest all-time. Quite a change from last February's 44.3, and enough to bring down the average 2012-13 meteorological winter temperature to 41.3, the 13th warmest. Last year's average meteorological winter temperature of 43.3 was the third warmest all-time, but DCA still managed to record half an inch more snow during December 2011 to February 2012 than during the last three months. Contrary to what you may think, however, the snow total of 3.5 inches during the last two meteorological winters does not break the all-time record. That honor still belongs to 1997-98 and 1998-99, which saw a total of only 3.0 inches of snow. Further, the meteorological winters of 1930-31 and 1931-32 also saw a total of only 3.5 inches of snow. However, March 1999 saw 8.7 inches of snow and March 1932 saw 4.0 inches. The two-year seasonal record minimum amount of snow in DC is actually 1996-97 and 1997-98, which saw 6.8 inches of snow. So, DCA must receive at least 3.3 inches of snow during the rest of this season to avoid the last two seasons setting the all-time record for snow futility.
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