August 2018 was similar in many respects to July. Temperature averages were

just about the same, and both July and August were wet months. In fact, the

wettest day of each month both fell on the 21st of the month (4.02” on 7/21,

3.92” on 8/21). August had 6 days with max temps of 90° or greater and July

had 8, but August didn’t have the 5 days in a row heat wave at the beginning

of the month like July did. The biggest difference in temperature issues was

minimums of 70° or greater.  July had 11 and August had 21. With global

warming, we have been trending to have warmer minimums, not only in

summer but most all months Differences in some patterns between July

and August were also in evidence. The first half of July was very dry, while

the first 22 days of August were quite wet. 13 days of measurable rain was

pretty close to the normal amount for August and once again compared

favorably with the 12 days in July. It was an incredibly diverse month with

Mother Nature turning her “faucet” on then off.

 

Once again, significant pressure differences during the month were muted,

even more so than in July.  The lack of tropical activity didn’t put a crimp

on our rainfall, but didn’t give us very low pressure values during the month.

August’s pressure extremes included the extreme highest pressure for the

month (30.29”) on the 25th with the extreme lowest (29.78”) on the 22nd

on the day after our biggest rain of the month. The month had 10 cloudy

days, 13 partly cloudy days, and 8 clear/sunny days.

 

There were 0 heating degree days and 383 cooling degree days during the

month. There were 6 foggy days and 7 windy days with thunder (mostly all

in thunderstorms during our wet periods the first 22 days of the month).

The windy day category is subjective with no personal real data values to

back it, just based on my descriptive email daily weather posts that are

also posted here on kevinshaw.weathertogether.net.

 

Daily max/min temperatures varied about the same as June. My maximum

temperature frequencies included 6 days of 90° or greater, 20 days between

80° and 89°, and 5 days between 70° and 79°.  On the minimum temp

frequency side of things, there was 1 day between 50° and 59.9°, 10 days

between 60° and 69.9°, and 20 days at or above 70°. The coolest daily max

temperature was 77.0° on the 23rd with the warmest daily min temp 76.1°

on the 16th.

 

The diurnal range daily monthly average was 15.2°. Our greatest daily

range of temperature was a modest 21.9° on the 24th, formed from a high

of 80.7° and the monthly low of 58.8°. We had only a total of 3 days with

daily ranges at or above 20°. Our lowest range of temperature was 6.7°

(77.4°-70.7°) on the wettest day of the month on the 21st.

There were only 2 other days with diurnal temperature ranges less than

10.0°, on cloudy, but not particularly wet days.

 

A recent change to the station was replacing the circuit board for the ISS

on my VP2 weather station, as I had some down time during the month

due to system problems. Unfortunately the development mentioned in my

July report of the sprinkler system has persisted in adding un-natural

amounts of water accumulation to my tipping bucket totals in the very

early morning hours. With the coming of fall and winter and the end of

the growing season, the sprinklers should not be running much longer.

The cocorahs gauge, located off property in a different location, does not

get this “artificial input” to its official record. I am still constantly checking

on my data quality frequently (which caused me to discover the sprinkler

system problem), along with discussion and data comparison with several

of my Maryland weather cohorts.

 

I continue to occasionally (as time allows) submit GLOBE Cloud

observations, complete with submission of sky pictures at the time

of the observation, usually timed with the passage of satellites and/or

solar noon (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 through any means available to you.

Link below displays my August 2018 Daily data PDF file: 

2018-08-Rockville-2.8-WNW

 

AUGUST 2018 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND – SUMMARY STATISTICS

Average high temperature 85.0°
Average low temperature 69.8°
Mean temperature 77.4°

Precipitation 7.67″
Greatest daily amount (date) 3.92″ (21)
Greatest storm total (dates) 4.06” (21-22)
2018 year-to-date precipitation total 38.08″

High temperature for the month (date) 91.9° (29)
Low temperature for the month (date) 58.8° (24)

Highest barometric pressure (date) 30.29” (25)
Lowest barometric pressure (date) 29.78” (22)

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

Heating degree days for the month: 0
Cooling degree days for the month: 383

Greatest diurnal range (date): 21.9° (24)
Least diurnal range (date) 6.7° (21)

Number of days:

Fog 6
Windy 7
Thunder 7
Cloudy 10
Partly Cloudy 13
Sunny/Clear 8
Max temp = 90° 6
Min temp < 60° 1
Precip = 0.01” 13