Mid Atlantic Weather 2012

[angelwing]

Ok, you know its cold when you are at work wearing a blanket on your legs and have 2 space heaters going!!!

[Stephanie]

Ok, you know its cold when you are at work wearing a blanket on your legs and have 2 space heaters going!!!

Such a strange winter, not that any of them have been "normal". We get a deep freeze and then two days later we're back up by 50. Hopefully this is a makeup year for the last two. We may get a few flakes tomorrow up to an inch and then a changeover to the feared "mix" and then rain. Monday, the high is supposed to be close to 60! No wonder why everyone is sick.

[angelwing]

Ok, its March 14, its 75 degrees....much too early!!! I have this fear in 2 weeks it will be freezing again and my plants are all gonna die!

[Stephanie]

Ok, its March 14, its 75 degrees....much too early!!! I have this fear in 2 weeks it will be freezing again and my plants are all gonna die!

It does feel too good to be true. I'm still waiting for that "hammer" to come, but next week is the beginning of spring...

[Stephanie]

Well, in true March fashion, we're under a "freeze watch" for tomorrow night. It's also going to be windy so that may be to our benefit. Wind chill is supposed to be 19 degrees Tuesday morning when I go to work.

[Stephanie]

Okay, so I know that our precipitation has been lower than normal (just from person observations) since the beginning of the year, but when I looked at this map, I see we're between 25 - 50% of NORMAL.

http://water.weather.gov/precip/

Where we should be between 10 - 15" of precipitation, we're at 5 - 10" of precipitation. I'm sure that the stress of the early bloom season due to the lovely March weather we had has put some stress on the trees and shrubs already. I do hope that April is more rainy than showery because going into the summer with a deficit as just about anyone can tell you around the country is NOT GOOD!

[Stephanie]

We were under a red flag warning today and two brush fires started today in some preserved forest in my neck of the woods. We're in for another red flag warning again tomorrow. We have "showers" forecasted for next WEDNESDAY. WHOOPIE!!!

[Stephanie]

There's not much more discouraging than being in extremely dry or a drought situation and having verga all around. There were a few drops here at home. The whole drive home from work I was watching clouds dropping rain, but you could definitely tell it wasn't getting near the ground. *SIGH*.

[Stephanie]

April 16, 2012, air conditioner on. Currently 75 degrees outside STILL and it hit the upper 80's today. Plus it's DRY!

[angelwing]

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_wx/fwdy1.html


*snip*
...MID-ATLANTIC AND JUST OUTSIDE THE CRITICAL AREA...
NEAR-CRITICAL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FOR AREAS JUST OUTSIDE THE
CRITICAL RISK -- I.E. SRN NY...NJ...FAR ERN PA AND MUCH OF ME.
TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE COOL ENOUGH ACROSS MUCH OF ME TO
KEEP RH VALUES ABOVE 30 PERCENT. ELSEWHERE /JUST S OF THE CRITICAL
RISK SWD INTO THE MID-ATLANTIC/ WIND SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN
NEAR 15 MPH WITH ONLY OCCASIONAL GUSTS OVER 20 MPH. THESE WINDS
COMBINED WITH EXPECTED RH VALUES BELOW 30 PERCENT AND VERY DRY FUELS
WILL RESULT IN ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WITH BRIEF/LOCALIZED
CRITICAL CONDITIONS POSSIBLE. *snip*


Just got this:

Red Flag Warning
URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
328 AM EDT TUE APR 17 2012

NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071-180000-
/O.UPG.KPHI.FW.A.0008.120417T1400Z-120418T0000Z/
/O.NEW.KPHI.FW.W.0009.120417T1400Z-120418T0000Z/
SUSSEX-WARREN-MORRIS-HUNTERDON-SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX-
WESTERN MONMOUTH-EASTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN-
NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY-
ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY-COASTAL ATLANTIC-COASTAL OCEAN-
SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-CARBON-MONROE-BERKS-LEHIGH-NORTHAMPTON-
CHESTER-MONTGOMERY-BUCKS-DELAWARE-PHILADELPHIA-
328 AM EDT TUE APR 17 2012

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM EDT
THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING. IT IS IN EFFECT FROM 1000 AM UNTIL 800 PM. THE FIRE
WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* AFFECTED AREAS...THE POCONOS, THE LEHIGH VALLEY, BERKS COUNTY
AND SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, AS WELL AS NORTHWESTERN, CENTRAL
AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY.

* WINDS...NORTHWEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH TODAY WITH GUSTS AROUND 20
MPH.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...MAINLY IN THE 20 TO 30 PERCENT RANGE FROM
LATE THIS MORNING INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS.

* IMPACTS...THE POTENTIAL FOR THE RAPID SPREAD OF WILDFIRES
REMAINS HIGH TODAY DUE TO THE EXPECTED GUSTY WINDS AND THE
CONTINUED DRY CONDITIONS. OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EXPECTED DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF GUSTY WINDS, LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITY VALUES AND DRY FINE FUELS.

&&

$$

IOVINO

[Stephanie]

It's looking rather promising for a wet Sunday and next week as well. I certainly hope so.

[Stephanie]

The storm that passed to our south today did throw us some showers here and there. Just enough to get my car looking a little more blue than green pollen. It's better than nothing and it's a nice sign that rain is in the forecast from Saturday night and almost all the way through next week. Sunday could be a soaker. Even if the showers that we had can soften the soil a bit so we don't get a lot of run-off that would be nice.

Back to more seasonal temperatures today as well, in the low 60's instead of the upper 80's of two days ago. Definitely a spring of extremes around here.

[angelwing]

I am hoping the rain pans out, it was nice to wake up this morning and have most of the pollen off the jeep

I am putting off the call for a mulch delivery because of the weather, I don't want 3 yards of mulch getting wet!

[tomboudreau]

You all enjoy the rain storm starting tomorrow night while we are preparing for a winter storm. NWS has posted a winter storm watch for the Pittsburgh metro area and points east and north. Could get up to 6 inches of heavy wet snow. With a lot of trees in bloom now, the tree damage could be severe.

[angelwing]

I would love to trade you, we hardly had any snow here! They said we got 3 inches of rain so far, we are still 3 inches short from what I heard.

Stay safe, I heard there were a lot of tree limbs down and its slippery!

[tomboudreau]

No snow here! Its been to warm the entire system. It snowed like crazy in the mountains to the east and north.

[Stephanie]

I am hoping the rain pans out, it was nice to wake up this morning and have most of the pollen off the jeep

I am putting off the call for a mulch delivery because of the weather, I don't want 3 yards of mulch getting wet!

Smart move!

tomboudreau - you lucked out with that snow. I can't even imagine seeing a foot or so at this time of the year. Per the NWS at the Philadelphia Int'l airport, we had 2.12" of rain over the 3 day period. A nice soaking rain and it cut our deficit by 1/3. I hope we're going to get back to a more "normal" pattern now.

[Stephanie]

Today was a spectacular day to enjoy outside. Lowes was hopping with people buying flowers, shrubs, etc. To me it's still a tad too early for annuals - there's actually frost and freeze advisories/warnings to my north. I did get more mulch and put some out. The stringy, brown, pollen filled "stuff" that drops from the oak trees is all over the place and I swept that up but I felt coated with pollen. However, the azaleas are blooming, the leaves are coming out on the trees, the hostas are almost fully out - just gorgeous!

[angelwing]

It was an awesome weekend! We worked in the yard Saturday from 7am to 6PM spreading 3 yards of mulch and wanted to get it done to beat the rain which never came! Sore as all hell but it looks good and hubby agreed to Chinese food on Saturday so didn't have to cook Sat Even saw my first bumble bee Sat too, didn't see any at all last year!

It is totally gorgeous out today! Even with the slight chill!

[Stephanie]

It was an awesome weekend! We worked in the yard Saturday from 7am to 6PM spreading 3 yards of mulch and wanted to get it done to beat the rain which never came! Sore as all hell but it looks good and hubby agreed to Chinese food on Saturday so didn't have to cook Sat Even saw my first bumble bee Sat too, didn't see any at all last year!

It is totally gorgeous out today! Even with the slight chill!

I've been seeing bees. My mother has a lot of azaleas that are blooming right now. Actually I had one of those carpenter bees "buzz" me a few times just to let me know he was around. Little bastard....

I wasn't out THAT long, but I'd say a good 3 hours in total between Friday and Sunday putting down mulch and weeding. I'll bet you are pretty sore.