FEBRUARY 2018 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND – MONTHLY SUMMARY

February 2018 was one of the warmest Februarys ever among the 3 local major airports with long records and official normals. The warmest period was on the 20th and 21st for maxima and on the 21st for minima and broke long standing records at these airports. My 76° and 78° on those two consecutive days and my 61° min on the 21st fit right in with the corresponding data from the major airports at BWi, DCA and IAD. The first 10 days of the month was generally the coldest period of the month, but still did not hold a 32 or lower max temp all month. Rainfall was significantly above normal at these three airports, and snowfall was well below normal, with only one day of snow on the 17th, curiously also the max day for snow in January, though it was even a lesser amount (0.7”). There were 16 days with measurable precipitation, assuredly what should be significantly above average, topped off by the 1.13″ that occurred on the 4th. The highest barometric pressure reading of the month (30.83″) on the 13th was
actually the highest I have had at my new station, surpassing the previous highest pressure reading of 30.80” set back on January 9, 2017. The lowest barometric pressure reading of the month (29.64″) occurred just three days later in the very early morning hours of the 16th , just prior to our only snowfall of the month the next day on the 17th.. The month was quite cloudy to go along with the bountiful and frequent precipitation, with only 3 clear days logged along with 11 partly cloudy and 14 cloudy days. The relatively cold period the first third of the month was
overwhelmed by the later in the month general warmth.at the three first-order stations at the 3 major DC area airport locations to make it the warm month that it was, near records at these official first-order locations. .

There were 618 heating degree days (HDD) and 5 cooling degree days (CDD) during the month. There were many foggy days, 13 to be exact, only 1 day with snow, and 5 windy days. That is a subjective category with no real data values to back it, just based on my email daily weather posts that are also posted every day on weathertogether.net.
There was 1 day with sleet and 3 days with glaze (both occurred on the 17th mixed in with our only snowfall during the month with light amounts of glaze on the 4th and 7th).

Daily max/min temperatures varied widely throughout the month. My maximum temperature frequencies included 3 days over 70°, 5 days between 60° and 69°, 6 days between 50° and 59°, 7 days between 40° and 49°, and 7 days between 30° and 39°.. On the minimum temperature frequency side of things, 2 days between 10° and 19°, 4 days between 20° and 29°, 14 days between 30° and 39°, 7 days between 40° and 49°, and 1 day above 60°. The coldest daily max temperature was 32.8° on the 8th and warmest daily min temp was 61.2° on that warmest day on the 21st.

The diurnal range daily monthly average was 15.5°. Our greatest daily range of temperature was 30.6°, formed from a high of 67.1° and low of 36.5° during the first of 2 mini-2 day “heat waves” during the month. This was the only day with a range over 30°, We had an additional 8 days with daily ranges above 20°. Our lowest range of temperature was 3.5° on our wettest (1.13”) day of the month (13th) when our readings (34.6° and 31.1°) teetered precariously around the freezing mark, mostly just above, to give us mostly all rain and just a bit of glaze. There were a total of 8 days with diurnal temperature ranges less than 10.0°, an increase of 2 over last month. The distribution of these low and high diurnal range days was spread out fairly uniformly during the month.

With yet another month to study the most recent instrument changes made in mid-August, data appears to be stable and an overall data quality improvement success. I am still constantly checking on my data quality frequently along with some of my Maryland weather cohorts. I have been swapping out gauges when frozen precipitation
occurs to allow for casual, comfortable melting inside my apartment. Unfortunately the “snow stake” was pulled out early in February when high winds knocked it over partially at a significant angle and has not been placed back outside through the current time.  I did get a new hand-held anemometer that is especially sensitive to light winds, a good thing as that is a persistent trait at my relatively calm location. I also have continued just about daily GLOBE Cloud observations, complete with submission of sky pictures at the time of the observation, usually timed with the passage of satellites and also solar noon right now with the time change about 70 minutes past actual EDT noon. Please ask me any questions you want at any time about my station setup and/or my data here on WT through the reply function. 

FEBRUARY 2018 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND – SUMMARY STATISTICS

Average high temperature 50.8°
Average low temperature 35.4°
Mean temperature 43.1°

Precipitation 4.80″
Greatest daily amount (date) 1.13″ (4)
Snow 2.0″
Greatest daily amount (date) 2.0” (17)
2018 year-to-date precipitation total 6.63″
Seasonal snowfall total as of 2/28/2018 7.2″

High temperature for the month (date) 78.3° (21)
Low temperature for the month (date) 13.7° (3)

Highest barometric pressure (date) 30.83” (13)
Lowest barometric pressure (date) 29.64” (16)

Peak wind gust (date/direction): N/A

Heating degree days for the month: 618
Cooling degree days for the month: 5

Greatest diurnal range (date): 30.6° (16)
Least diurnal range (date) 3.5° (4)

Number of days:

Fog                13
Windy             6
Snow               1
Cloudy            14
Partly Cloudy  11
Sunny/Clear    3
Max temp =>  70°   3
Min temp =<   32°  12
Max temp =<  32°   0
Precip      => 0..01” 16

DAILY RECORDS SPREADSHEET – FEBRUARY 2018 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND

2018-02-Rockville-2.8-WNW