April 2023

[LibertyBell]

2 hours ago, SACRUS said:

 

Records:

There is that late winter/early spring cold in 1923 again.  Must have been some chilly stretch mid/late march and early april 1923.

Highs:

EWR: 82 (1978)
NYC: 83 (1917)
LGA: 80 (1978)

Lows: 

EWR: 28 (1969)
NYC: 12 (1923)
LGA: 27 (1969)

 

Historical:

 

 

1875: The London Times published the first daily newspaper weather map. The first American newspaper weather map would be issued on 5/12/1876 in the New York Herald. Weather maps would first appear on a regular basis beginning on 5/9/1879 in the New York Daily Graphic.

 

1912 - A tornado with incredible velocity ripped into downtown Houston, TX, breaking the water table and giving the city its first natural waterspout. (The Weather Channel)

1923 - Residents in the eastern U.S. awoke on "April Fool's Day" to bitterly cold temperatures. The mercury plunged to -34 degrees at Bergland MI and to 16 degrees in Georgia. (David Ludlum)

 

1960: The first weather satellite, TIROS 1 (Television and Infra-Red Observation Satellite) began sending pictures back to Earth. The TIROS series would have little benefit to operational weather forecasters because the image quality was low and inconsistent. The most critical understanding achieved from the new technology was the discovery of the high degree of organization of large-scale weather systems, a fact never apparent from ground and aircraft observations. 

 

1973: A tornado touches down near Brentsville, Virginia, then traveled to Fairfax hitting Woodson High School. This F2 tornado injured 37 and caused $14 million in damage.

1987 - Forty-five cities across the southeastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date. Lows of 37 degrees at Apalachicola FL, 34 degrees at Jacksonville FL, 30 degrees at Macon GA, and 22 degrees at Knoxville TN, were records for April. (The National Weather Summary)

1987 - A tornado touched down briefly during a snow squall on the south shore of White Fish Bay (six miles northwest of Bay Mills WI). A mobile home was unroofed and insulation was sucked from its walls. (The Weather Channel)

1988 - A powerful spring storm produced 34 inches of snow at Rye CO, 22 inches at Timpas OK, 19 inches at Sharon Springs KS, and up to 35 inches in New Mexico. Severe thunderstorms associated with the same storm spawned a tornado which caused 2.5 million dollars damage at East Mountain TX. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1989 - Up to six inches of snow blanketed the Adirondacks of eastern New York State and the Saint Lawrence Valley of Vermont. Up to a foot of snow blanketed the Colorado Rockies. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in Texas, from southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana to southern Georgia, and from northern South Carolina to the Upper Ohio Valley during the day and evening. Thunderstorms spawned a tornado at Evergreen AL, and there were more than eighty reports of large hail and damaging winds. Thunderstorms produced baseball size hail north of Bastrop LA, and produced damaging winds which injured one person west of Meridian MS. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

 

2011:

Snowmelt flooding in March continued across much of central and northeast South Dakota as the rest of the snowpack melted into early April. Many roads along with many acres of crop and pastureland remained flooded. Roads, culverts, and bridges were damaged across the region. Several roads were washed out with many closed. Many homes were threatened with some surrounded by water. Rising lake levels in northeast South Dakota also threatened and flooded many homes. Many people had to use four-wheelers to get to their homes. A Presidential Disaster was declared for all counties due to the flooding damage. The total damage estimates, including March, were from 4.5 to 5 million dollars for the area. The flooding diminished across much of the area into May. The snowmelt flooding damaged many roads and highways, including U.S. Highway 81, throughout Hamlin County. Many roads were closed throughout the county. In the late evening of April 13th on U.S Highway 81, a car with four people inside went through a flooded area at a high rate of speed and ended up in the flooded ditch. They all got out with no injuries. The snowmelt runoff caused Lake Kampeska to rise to nearly 44 inches overfull. The lake flooded several roads and also threatened many homes. Sandbagging was done to hold off the rising lake. Waves and ice chunks did eventually do some damage to homes. Also, many boat lifts were damaged. Mud Creek near Rauville also went slightly above the flood stage of 9 feet to 9.64 feet for a couple of days in early April.

wow this list doesn't have the April Fools' Day snowstorm

[LibertyBell]

8 minutes ago, bluewave said:

Convection is forecast to fill in further south from the main batch in NE Ohio. A new squall line develops in Eastern PA tracking toward our area with embed spin ups. A few supercells out ahead of main line near Central NJ. 

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/ewall/HRRRNE_CUR/rloop.html

 

I see an enhanced risk-- is that more than 5% for EPA and WNJ, Chris?

 

[allgame830]

Most likely a svr t storm watch soon? 

[dmillz25]

Clouds are finally breaking here

[Volcanic Winter]

42 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

There's something that confuses me about this....NWS says slight risk is 2% to 5%

TWC talking about Tor:Con or TCI saying their index is better because it measures "true risk"-- they have us under 30% (for E PA to NJ to Staten Island) and 20% (NYC and Western Long Island) and say their index measures likelihood of a tornado within 50 miles.  They said that the "slight" risk and 2-5 percent gives people a false sense of security and 20% to 30% represents the way people should see the risk of seeing a tornado nearby.

 

Yeah, a 5% tornadic risk is actually pretty high for this area. I had always heard SPC forecasts are not intended for the general public. 

IIRC the EF3 from 2021 occurred during a 5% risk and overall Enhanced SPC forecast as well. 

In the plains and south it’s not uncommon for a slight risk to overperform with strong tornadoes. 

[snywx]

Clear skies here up to 70 now

[Volcanic Winter]

The sun is out here in South River (out for my FIL’s bday), that will pay returns on the severe threat later. 

[allgame830]

Clouds also breaking up quickly here. Temp is 64. RH 96% and DWPT 64

[Gravity Wave]

Bright and sunny in Manhattan, clouds finally broke here about half an hour ago.

[Rjay]

53 and drizzle

[Cyg]

Full sun here in Union county. 66 degrees now.

[dmillz25]

Up to 66 with sunny skies

[SnoSki14]

Getting concerned with the severe weather threat. This system has a bad history. I really hope we don't get some rogue strong tornado 

[Volcanic Winter]

3 minutes ago, SnoSki14 said:

Getting concerned with the severe weather threat. This system has a bad history. I really hope we don't get some rogue strong tornado 

It’s always possible, but I’m banking on our typical QLCS line. Not that those can’t be destructive and powerful. 

Over in Milltown now and the sky is crystal clear. That’s definitely not gonna help things. 

[ForestHillWx]

Beautiful in chester. Clear skies and 67 degrees. Grass on the south slopes quickly greening up. 

[LibertyBell]

51 minutes ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Yeah, a 5% tornadic risk is actually pretty high for this area. I had always heard SPC forecasts are not intended for the general public. 

IIRC the EF3 from 2021 occurred during a 5% risk and overall Enhanced SPC forecast as well. 

In the plains and south it’s not uncommon for a slight risk to overperform with strong tornadoes. 

skies have cleared out here for an hour already and temps already in the 60s on the south shore!

[LibertyBell]

28 minutes ago, Rjay said:

53 and drizzle

wow different world out there, it's bright and sunny and in the 60s for an hour already here on the western part of the south shore...cleared out around 1:45

[LibertyBell]

36 minutes ago, Gravity Wave said:

Bright and sunny in Manhattan, clouds finally broke here about half an hour ago.

same here in southwest Nassau

[LibertyBell]

Just now, bluewave said:

Spring and fall have been active in recent years.

https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/plotting/auto/?_wait=no&q=171&opt=wfo&station=OKX&state=IA&_ugc_state=IA&ugc=IAC169&phenomena=SV&significance=W&cmap=Greens&_r=t&dpi=100&_fmt=png
 

 

November was historic for Long Island a couple years ago

[dmillz25]

Up to 70 now

[Volcanic Winter]

65 on my home Tempest. Warmer where I am now. 

[bkviking]

57° in Port Jefferson - with breaking clouds. Was light rain an hour ago. We need sun to have chance at storms. Luckily , I don’t count on it here in Suffolk in April. 

[jm1220]

11 minutes ago, bkviking said:

57° in Port Jefferson - with breaking clouds. Was light rain an hour ago. We need sun to have chance at storms. Luckily , I don’t count on it here in Suffolk in April period. 

 

[TriPol]

So what does a building strong el nino do for our springs and summers?

[Allsnow]

3 hours ago, Brian5671 said:

with the winter storm track through the lakes there were on the good side of most of these storms..

Crazy how persistent this pattern has been….

 

 

[Rmine1]

1 hour ago, Rjay said:

53 and drizzle

Sun is out in brightwaters. 61

[Rjay]

53 and drizzle

[Snowlover11]

feels amazing outside 69 currently 

[IrishRob17]

73/53, the dew has been steadily dropping under bright sunny skies

[bkviking]

19 minutes ago, TriPol said:

So what does a building strong el nino do for our springs and summers?

CPC has us warmer than normal. Not sure that means much anymore. But above normal precip - which tends to be an El Niño symptom for our area. Anecdotally, incoming El Niños have been nasty summers. Summer 2009 is one that sticks in mind as such a nightmare. But I’m sure others can offer the true statistics on these.