Friday Daily Weather Summary

ONLINE DAILY WEATHER SUMMARY

Friday, 2 April 1999

WINTRY WEATHER ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS
SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES?
PLEASANT WEATHER RETURNS TO THE EAST
CHILLY WEATHER FOUND ACROSS NORTHWEST
UPPER AIR WEATHER CONDITIONS
YESTERDAY'S TEMPERATURE EXTREMES IN THE LOWER 48
ALASKAN WEATHER
HAWAIIAN WEATHER
A TIMELY REMINDER
HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS

WINTRY WEATHER ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS -- Even though the calendar says spring, a variety of winter-like precipitation forms to include snow, ice pellets (sleet), freezing rain and freezing drizzle accompanied a winter storm that was moving through the northern Plains. As of late Thursday night a low pressure system was situated over western Minnesota. A warm front extended eastward from the low into northern Wisconsin where it became a stationary front that eventually reached southern New England. A cold front trailed southward and then southwestward across the Plains, to link with a warm front associated with another winter storm system in the Colorado Rockies.

This northern storm system had developed over Wyoming and moved across the Dakotas on Thursday. Heavy snowfall rates were accompanied by thundersnow -- a convective situation where thunder is heard during a snowstorm. More than a foot of new snow fell in the Black Hills in western South Dakota. Strong winds accompanied the snow, causing a reduction of visibility to blizzard conditions from the Black Hills to central North Dakota. Blizzard warnings continued until late Thursday night in eastern North Dakota. To the south and east of the storm system, freezing rain and ice pellets were reported as warm air drawn northward into the system was lifted over the colder air near the surface. As of late Thursday night, winter weather advisories for a combination of ice pellets and freezing rain or freezing drizzle were in effect for northern Minnesota and portions of the Dakotas.

This storm system is expected to move eastward, positioned near the Twin Cities by Friday morning. Much of the precipitation should have moved northward into southern Canada, except for some freezing precipitation that could remain across northern Minnesota from the Lake of the Woods and the Arrowhead eastward to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES? -- Another winter storm system was producing heavy snows across the central and southern Rockies on Thursday night. At that time this complex storm system contained several low pressure centers, with one center located in southeastern Colorado, a second low pressure center in western Colorado and a third low center in northern Arizona. These low pressure centers were situated along a frontal zone that separated warm air over the southern Plains to the south and east of the storm system from colder air over the northern Rockies to the north and west of the system.

Snow continued to fall across the Rockies, from southern Montana and neighboring Idaho south to northern New Mexico and west to northern Arizona. Between 8 and 16 inches of snow had fallen over the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado by late Thursday afternoon.

By sunrise on Friday, the storm system should continue moving southeastward into the Plains. One low center should be located in the Texas Panhandle, while one of the other low centers should remain over the Four Corners. A wide area should expect snow. A variety of snow advisories and winter storm warnings were in effect across Colorado and New Mexico where some locations could have an additional 16 inches. Heavy snow warnings were posted for the higher elevations of the Mogollon Rim through central Arizona where as much as 6 inches of additional accumulation was expected. To the east, a slight risk of thunderstorms reaching severe limits is possible across the Plains from west Texas to southern Iowa.

PLEASANT WEATHER RETURNS TO THE EAST -- Many areas along the Eastern Seaboard had light rainfall on Thursday morning. Some locations in the Appalachians between Georgia and the Virginias had between one half to three quarters of an inch of rain. Later in the day, most of the rain moved off the coast. Thunderstorms in the Southeast produced damaging high winds that gusted to 60 mph in South Carolina and in Florida. Farther westward, southerly winds across the southern Plains and the Midwest brought another day of unseasonably warm conditions.

With clear skies, weak winds and plenty of low level moisture, dense fog was beginning to form in many areas of the East and Southeast on Thursday night. As a result, dense fog advisories were issued for portions of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Florida into Friday morning.

CHILLY WEATHER FOUND ACROSS NORTHWEST -- A pool of cool air continued to reside along the West Coast. A weak region of high pressure also produced dry conditions and relatively cloud-free skies across the Pacific Northwest. As a result, record low temperatures were set on Thursday morning at Quillayute/Forks, WA (23 degrees) and in California at Eureka (32 degrees) and Downtown San Francisco (42 degrees).

UPPER AIR WEATHER CONDITIONS -- The 500 mb and 300 mb upper air charts for 00Z Friday both reveal similar types of topography and wind flow patterns. For both charts, representing the mid and upper troposphere, respectively, a cold pool of air in the West has produced a height trough, where the height of each pressure surface remains closer to sea-level than elsewhere. On the other hand, warm tropospheric air to the east of the Rockies created a height ridge on the two pressure surfaces where these surfaces stand higher above sea-level. As a result of this topography, the prevailing westerly mid-latitude winds aloft that enter the country would be deflected to the south around the trough over the Intermountain West, then proceed across the Plains as southwest winds, before passing to the north of the East Coast ridge.

At 300 mb, a level where the strongest winds typically are located during the winter, the winds circulating in a counterclockwise fashion abut the upper level trough reached speeds between 60 to 110 knots. The pattern of strong winds at this upper tropospheric level provides a means for intensifying and maintaining the surface low pressure features over the Rockies.

YESTERDAY'S TEMPERATURE EXTREMES IN THE LOWER 48 -- The lowest temperature on Thursday was 9 degrees at Truckee, CA, while the day's high was 89 degrees at Daytona Beach, FL and Lajitas, TX.

ALASKAN WEATHER -- A large complex storm system that moved across southwest Alaska spread clouds across much of the state on Thursday. One low pressure center was situated over the Yukon Valley with a front that trailed southward to another low pressure center on the north Gulf coast near the Kenai Peninsula. The front continued southward into the Gulf of Alaska. In the vicinity of this front, snow fell at Cordova, mixed rain and snow was reported at Yakutat, while warm air in the southeast meant that the Panhandle had rain. To the west of the low, snow fell at St. Paul , King Salmon and at Bethel. Winds along the front were gusty, with Seward having gusts to 41 mph and Anchorage to 30 mph. Farther to the east, Juneau and Skagway had gusts to 46 mph and Yakutat to 45 mph. Strong northerly winds were found to the west of the low pressure system. Cold Bay reported gusts to 46 mph and Dutch Harbor had gusts to 40 mph. Other locations across southwest Alaska and the Pribilofs had winds gusting to between 30 and 40 mph.

An east-west oriented stationary front situated to the north of the storm system separated arctic air to the north from more mild air to the south. Across northern Alaska to the north of the front, winds gusted to 51 mph at Point Hope, while at Gambell winds gusted to 38 mph and at Barrow, 21 mph.

On Thursday the lowest overnight temperature in the state was 36 degrees below zero at Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, while the highest temperature as of midafternoon was 52 degrees at Elmendorf AFB.

HAWAIIAN WEATHER -- A ridge of high pressure located to the north-northeast of Hawaii on Thursday afternoon helped maintain brisk northeast trade winds across the islands. Some trade showers continued across the islands, especially on the windward slopes of the Big Island and Maui. Fair weather was found elsewhere. The trade winds are expected to weaken with an increased chance of precipitation over the weekend as the high pressure cell moves away from the islands and a storm system from midlatitudes passes close to the islands. Small craft advisories remained in effect for state waters.

A TIMELY REMINDER -- Daylight Saving Time will go into effect this coming Sunday morning for essentially the entire nation -- the exceptions include Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the eastern time zone sections of Indiana. These changes have been mandated by the U.S. Congress. In other words, following the old adage of "spring ahead, fall behind", you will need to turn your clocks ahead by one hour to conform with the local time observance.

What does this time change mean to you (other than later sunsets)? Contrary to a popular belief that has surfaced at times, the change from Standard to Daylight Saving Time does not add an extra hour of daylight to the day nor does it affect weather patterns. While the weather will not change because of the time change, the times when you will be able to obtain weather charts will now be one hour later. The reason is that the National Weather Service operates on "Z time" (variously called Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Coordinated Time) which does not observe Daylight Saving Time, and the charts are still produced and transmitted at the same Z time.

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 2 April

From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast

...1837...A heavy April snow fell over St. Louis, MO and the surrounding area, with 17 inches falling in the city and 24 inches in the suburbs. (Intellicast)
...1957...An F3 tornado tore through Dallas, TX. Ten people were killed and 216 were injured. Total damage was 1.5 million dollars. This tornado was among the most photographed and studied in history. (Intellicast)
...1970...The last snowstorm of the 1969-70 winter season came to an end at Chicago, IL as 10.7 inches of snow fell -- a final contribution to the season's amount of 77 inches which set a new all-time snow season record for the city. (Intellicast)
...1975...A severe storm over the northeastern US began on this day and blasted the area for the next 3 days. Wind gusts reached 87 mph at West Harpswell, ME and Boston, MA recorded its lowest April pressure on record (28.68 inches). Tides along the coast ran 2 to 4 feet above normal and anywhere from 1 to 4 feet of snow fell from western New York to northern Maine with the higher elevations receiving the most. (Intellicast)
...1975...The northeastern U.S. was in the grips of a severe storm which produced hurricane force winds along the coast, and two to three feet of snow in Maine and New Hampshire. Winds atop Mount Washington, NH gusted to 140 mph. (David Ludlum)
The biggest snowstorm of record for so late in the season paralyzed Chicago, IL. Up to 20 inches of snow fell in extreme northeastern Illinois, and 10.9 inches of snow closed Chicago's O'Hare Airport. (The Weather Channel)
...1982...Severe thunderstorms spawned fifty-six tornadoes in the central U.S., including seventeen in the Red River Region of Texas and Oklahoma. The tornadoes claimed thirty lives, and injured 383 other persons. A violent tornado near Messer, OK left only the carpet tack strips on the slab of a house it destroyed, and carried a motel sign thirty miles. (The Weather Channel) (Storm Data)
...1982...Fifty six tornadoes ripped through the Midwest and Mississippi Valley. A total of 30 people were killed and 383 were injured. Paris, TX was hit by an F4 tornado with 10 people killed and 170 injured. An F5 tornado, at times 1.5 miles wide, tracked 53 miles through Choctaw and McCurtain counties in Oklahoma. (Intellicast)
...1984...A late season winter storm blasted Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, and southern South Dakota. 24 inches of snow was recorded at Mullen, Nebraska. Winds gusting to 50 mph created 3 to 6 foot drifts. 22 inches of snow fell in the black hills in South Dakota. Interstates 70 and 76 were closed east of the Denver, Colorado area stranding over 1000 travelers in Limon, Colorado. (Intellicast)
...1987...Eleven cities in Florida reported record low temperatures for the date, including Tallahassee with a reading of 31 degrees. The low of 48 degrees at Key West smashed their previous record for the date by 13 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
...1988...Thunderstorms produced up to nine inches of rain around New Orleans, LA causing 18 million dollars damage. A tornado caused three million dollars damage at Slidell, LA. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
...1990...Thunderstorms produced severe weather in North Carolina and Virginia during the afternoon and evening. Thunderstorms produced golf ball size hail, and spawned a tornado near Chester, VA which caused half a million dollars damage. A storm system produced snow and gale force winds across northern Michigan, with 8.3 inches of snow reported at Marquette. Temperatures in the north central U.S. soared from morning lows in the 20s and 30s to afternoon highs in the 60s and 70s. Eight cities reported record highs for the date, including Havre, MT with a reading of 77 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

3 April

...1915...A heavy Easter weekend snowstorm produced 10 to 20 inches from the Mid Atlantic to southern New England. 19.4 inches fell at Philadelphia, PA, 17 inches at Trenton, NJ, 15 inches at Dover, DE, and 10.2 inches at New York City, NY. (Intellicast)
...1956...An F5 tornado chewed its way through Hudsonville, Standale, and Grand Rapids, MI. Eighteen people were killed and 340 were injured. (Intellicast)
...1964...Wichita Falls, TX was hit by an F5 tornado. Seven people were killed and 111 were injured. Great damage was done at Sheppard Air Force Base where 3 tanker planes, a hanger, the power plant, and the chapel were all destroyed. (Intellicast)
...1974...A "Super-Outbreak" of tornadoes, the largest outbreak ever, ravaged the Midwest and the eastern U.S. Severe weather erupted early in the afternoon and continued through the next day. Severe thunderstorms spawned 148 tornadoes in 12 states from Alabama to Michigan, most of which occurred between 1 PM (CST) on the 3rd and 1 AM on the 4th. At one point, 16 tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously in Indiana. The tornadoes killed 315 persons, injured 5300 others, and caused over 600 million dollars damage. Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio were especially hard hit in the tornado outbreak. Six of the tornadoes were rated F5 on the Fujita scale. One F5 tornado destroyed half of the town of Xenia, OH killing 34 persons and causing 100 million dollars in damage. Another tornado, near the town of Stamping Ground, KY, produced a path of destruction a record five miles in width. Brandenburg, KY was devastated as well by yet another F5 with 28 people killed. A F-5 tornado raced through Guin, AL at a record speed of 75 mph and demolished almost the entire town. Two powerful tornadoes roared across northern Alabama during the early evening hours, killing fifty persons and injuring 500 others. Some rescue vehicles responding to the first tornado were struck by the second. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Tom Grazulis)
...1987... A large, slow moving low pressure produced very heavy snows over the Appalachian region starting on the 3rd and continuing into the 5th. Sixty inches fell at Newfound Gap in western North Carolina -- the largest single storm snowfall in the state's history. Up to 36 inches was reported in southeastern Kentucky. The total of 25 inches at Charleston, WV easily surpassed its previous record for the entire month of April of 5.9 inches. The 20.6 inch total at Akron, OH established an all-time record for that location. Interstate 40 was closed by snow for the first time since it was opened 20 years ago. This storm also dumped heavy snow in central and northeastern Alabama. Never before had a snowfall blanketed Alabama in April. Ten inches fell at Valley Head, 9 inches piled up at Fort Payne, and Birmingham recorded 6 inches. Lightning and thunder accompanied the snow in some areas while snow flurries fell as far south as Mobile. The trace of snow was the first snow ever reported in the month of April in Mobile since records began in 1872. One inch of snow fell at Jackson, MS and two inches were reported at Meridian, MS, the latest snow of record for those locations. The storm became known unofficially as the "Dogwood snowstorm" in the state. (Intellicast) (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987) (The National Weather Summary)
...1988...A wind gust to 114 mph was clocked at Ann Arbor, MI during a tornadic thunderstorm. Thunderstorms in Michigan and Indiana spawned five tornadoes that Easter Sunday, and also produced golf ball size hail. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1989...Thunderstorms produced severe weather from the Southern Plains to the southern and central Appalachians. The thunderstorms spawned twenty tornadoes, including one which caused eight million dollars damage at Fort Branch, IN. A severe thunderstorm produced baseball size hail along an almost continuous 130 mile path through southern Illinois and Indiana. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
...1996...Marquette, MI recorded 12.6 inches of snow on this day to raise its seasonal snowfall to 250.8 inches -- the city's snowiest winter ever. The old record was 243.8 inches set back in 1981-82. The snowfall for the month now stood at 43.4 inches -- the snowiest April on record for the city as well. (Intellicast)

4 April

...1804...A large tornado crossed six Georgia counties killing at least eleven persons near Augusta. (David Ludlum)
...1923...An F4 tornado killed 15 people and injured 150 at Alexandria and Pineville, LA. In Pineville, 142 homes and businesses were destroyed. (Intellicast)
...1933...Pigeon River Bridge, MN reported 28 inches of snow, which established the state 24 hour snowfall record. (4th-5th) (The Weather Channel)
...1955...A severe 3 day spring snowstorm came to an end over north-central Wyoming and south-central Montana. Sheridan, WY had near blizzard conditions for 43 hours and recorded 22.7 inches of snow in 24 hours on the 3rd to set a new 24 hour snowfall record. Billings, MT had a storm total of 42.3 inches, a new single storm snowfall record. (Intellicast)
...1966...One of the strongest tornadoes in Florida's history moved in from the Gulf of Mexico and ripped through Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, and Osceola counties. Damage was very severe in the towns of Gibsonia and Galloway in Polk county. Eleven people were killed and 350 were injured. The tornado was classified as F4 on the Fujita scale. (Intellicast)
...1973...Sandia Crest, NM reported a snow depth of 95 inches, a record for the state of New Mexico. (The Weather Channel)
...1977...An F5 tornado hit Tarrant, AL (just north of Birmingham). Twenty two were killed and 130 were injured. Damage was set at $15 million. (Intellicast)
...1983...Colorado was in the midst of a three day winter storm and by the time it was all over on the 5th, 21 inches of new snow was recorded at Fort Collins and Buckhorn Mountain, not too far to the west of Fort Collins, was buried under 64.4 inches. To the east, 11 inches of snow was on the ground at Liberal, Kansas and 14 inches at Trousdale, Kansas. (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
...1987...New England was in the middle of its second heavy rainstorm in 5 days. This was the same storm that produced record snows in the Appalachians. This storm dumped 4 to 7 inches of rain over the area and this, combined with snowmelt and rivers already at bankfull, produced record flooding, especially in Maine, where 2300 homes were flooded with 215 totally destroyed. Record water levels were reached at many dams. Damage in the state alone reached 100 million dollars. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
...1989...Thunderstorms produced severe weather from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southern Appalachians. The thunderstorms spawned seventeen tornadoes, including one which caused two million dollars damage at Baldwin, AL. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 90 mph at Bremen, GA. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1990...A deep low pressure system in northern New York State brought heavy snow to parts of western and central New York during the day. The snowfall total of 5.8 inches at Buffalo was a record for the date, and 9.5 inches was reported at Rochester. Snowfall totals ranged up to 11 inches at Warsaw. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)