Saturday, March 13, 2010

Spring Storm Registers Record Rainfall

Image (click to enlarge): Southern New England 24-hour precipitation ending 8 am EDT, March 15, 2010, from National Weather Service

March 15 PM Update: More record reports:

Boston blew away its record for March 14 with 3.40", far exceeding the 1.93" in 1958. This was also only slightly below the all-time March daily record rainfall of 3.49" on March 18, 1968, making it the second wettest March day in Boston history. The last time a 3" calendar day rainfall occurred in Boston was on May 13 and 14, 2006.

Worcester's 1.75" broke the March 14 record of 1.39" in 1986.

Portland, Maine had 2.27", breaking the record of 2.17" in 1951.

Providence tied its record for March 14 with 1.28".

Image (click to enlarge): Mid Atlantic region 24-hour precipitation ending 8 am EDT, March 14, 2010, from National Weather Service

March 14 PM Update: The daily rainfall record at Philadelphia was extended to 2.57". Here are some other new daily rainfall records for March 13 (old record and date in parentheses):
Mt. Pocono PA   1.04" (1.00", 1920)
Newark NJ 3.99" (2.71", 1993)
Central Park NY 3.86" (2.61", 1953)
La Guardia NY 2.88" (2.38", 1993 & 1953)
The new record for Newark is almost 50% above the old one, and it also sets a new all-time daily record for March since daily data began in 1929. The 2.42" at Islip, NY was just short of the 2.49" measured in 1984.

Original post:
A massive spring storm moving slowly along the Atlantic Coast is bringing some record rainfalls to the Mid Atlantic region:
  • As of 4 pm, the daily rainfall of 2.30" at Philadelphia had already broken the March 13 record of 1.91" set in 1984.
  • Also as of 4 pm, the 2.24" at Baltimore (BWI) was close to the 2.45" associated with the 11.3" of snow in the superstorm of 1993. An additional 0.08" fell in the following hour, bringing the daily total to 2.32".
  • The 1.93" at Martinsburg, WV yesterday broke the March 12 record of 1.83" set in 1968.
In the immediate Washington DC area, amounts have been somewhat lighter, with 0.50" so far at Washington National and 0.21" at Dulles.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Retail Details: Don't Blame the Weather!

Despite snowstorms hammering the Mid Atlantic, Northeast, and even parts of the South in February, retail sales figures announced today were much better than expected, up 0.3% (0.8% excluding autos):




From the high-fiber media:

Seasonal Outlook

Latest seasonal forecast: Click here.


Latest 3-month temperature outlook from Climate Prediction Center/NWS/NOAA.