Back To Reality
Personally I've missed April as it has been acting a bit like May or June the past two weeks. Temperatures are finally down to average marks and some actual weather has been sited. The weather is in the form of rain and wind. Once again April has surpassed a 3" monthly precipitation total as it has the past two years. Things in this area of the state are in good shape moisture wise unlike our neighbors to the Northwest. Even though the temperatures are back to average or below average values we are still quite a bit above as April 2010 is currently the 2nd warmest of all-time in Oshkosh with a monthly mean temperature of 52.0 degrees here at OSNW3.
Addendum: Lake fly hatch sited near Lake Winnebago the morning of Apr 26, 2010. Swarms of them along the lake and above the road, following Cty A from Oshkosh to Neenah. Earliest hatch in 50 years I am told. For an article written by Doug Zellmer of the ONW click here.
(OSNW3 Weather Brief)
(OSNW3 April Observations)
(OSNW3 April 2010 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Oshkosh Wx History Dec 21-31, 1968
Earlier this week on The Weather Channel I saw a photo of Earth viewed by Apollo 8 from Dec 22, 1968. A quick glance at it while it was on the television showed a storm system around what I thought might be the Midwest. A closer look at the photo reveals a storm system exiting the East Coast out into the Atlantic Ocean. I searched the observation archives for Oshkosh and Oshkosh did record precipitation for the date Dec 22, 1968. The observations show a warm up as the storm system and precipitation moved in and a cool down once the storm exited the region. Typical of a storm system of the one captured in the photo from Apollo 8. Official observations for Oshkosh for the period are below.
(Earth Viewed by Apollo 8 - Dec 22, 1968)
Looking at the photo even closer it would seem another potent storm system was building or taking place in the region. It's possible the second storm in the photo ended up being a big one in the Oshkosh area. 10+ inches of snow fell in the following days.
I searched a bit further as I wanted more weather history on this time period. I settled in at the Oshkosh Public Library viewing archived microfilm of the Oshkosh Northwestern for December of 1968. I found exactly what I was looking for. Linked below are 12 snippets, in PDF form, I chose from the microfilm during the Dec 21 thru Dec 31 time period. I was surprised to learn that there were no Sunday papers back then, and unfortunately the 8" snowfall observation would've been in a Sunday paper. So no record of that was found in the microfilm. There is plenty of history jammed into this link, just click the image.
(Oshkosh Northwestern snippets - Dec 21-31, 1968)
In the snippet from Dec 31, 1968 there were forecasts for the next 20 days. Likely predicting what was to come in the month of January 1969. I wanted to see how accurate the forecast was so I searched out the data and put together a graph for January 1969. The results are below. I do not have the averages and records for the 30 year period prior to 1969, so the data is compared to current averages and records which is a slight misrepresentation of the time period. Regardless, seems back in 1968 the 20 day forecast for January 1969 was right on. Which is quite a feat even to today's forecasting standards.
(Buckstaff Observatory January 1969 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Front of House
Last year my first lawn cutting took place on May 8. In 2010 it took place on Apr 23. As Spring evolves it becomes clearer that we are about 2 weeks ahead of last year in all aspects.
(FOH - Apr 25, 2010)
Addendum: Lake fly hatch sited near Lake Winnebago the morning of Apr 26, 2010. Swarms of them along the lake and above the road, following Cty A from Oshkosh to Neenah. Earliest hatch in 50 years I am told. For an article written by Doug Zellmer of the ONW click here.
(OSNW3 Weather Brief)
(OSNW3 April Observations)
(OSNW3 April 2010 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Oshkosh Wx History Dec 21-31, 1968
Earlier this week on The Weather Channel I saw a photo of Earth viewed by Apollo 8 from Dec 22, 1968. A quick glance at it while it was on the television showed a storm system around what I thought might be the Midwest. A closer look at the photo reveals a storm system exiting the East Coast out into the Atlantic Ocean. I searched the observation archives for Oshkosh and Oshkosh did record precipitation for the date Dec 22, 1968. The observations show a warm up as the storm system and precipitation moved in and a cool down once the storm exited the region. Typical of a storm system of the one captured in the photo from Apollo 8. Official observations for Oshkosh for the period are below.
(Earth Viewed by Apollo 8 - Dec 22, 1968)
Looking at the photo even closer it would seem another potent storm system was building or taking place in the region. It's possible the second storm in the photo ended up being a big one in the Oshkosh area. 10+ inches of snow fell in the following days.
I searched a bit further as I wanted more weather history on this time period. I settled in at the Oshkosh Public Library viewing archived microfilm of the Oshkosh Northwestern for December of 1968. I found exactly what I was looking for. Linked below are 12 snippets, in PDF form, I chose from the microfilm during the Dec 21 thru Dec 31 time period. I was surprised to learn that there were no Sunday papers back then, and unfortunately the 8" snowfall observation would've been in a Sunday paper. So no record of that was found in the microfilm. There is plenty of history jammed into this link, just click the image.
(Oshkosh Northwestern snippets - Dec 21-31, 1968)
In the snippet from Dec 31, 1968 there were forecasts for the next 20 days. Likely predicting what was to come in the month of January 1969. I wanted to see how accurate the forecast was so I searched out the data and put together a graph for January 1969. The results are below. I do not have the averages and records for the 30 year period prior to 1969, so the data is compared to current averages and records which is a slight misrepresentation of the time period. Regardless, seems back in 1968 the 20 day forecast for January 1969 was right on. Which is quite a feat even to today's forecasting standards.
(Buckstaff Observatory January 1969 Summary)
(click on graph for the month summary data - it will open a new tab/window)
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Front of House
Last year my first lawn cutting took place on May 8. In 2010 it took place on Apr 23. As Spring evolves it becomes clearer that we are about 2 weeks ahead of last year in all aspects.
(FOH - Apr 25, 2010)
Awesome information as always Josh! The same storm that gave you 1+" of rain Today brought a pultry 0.10" of rain to Duluth, MN, but with how dry it has been, any rain is good! It sure has been windy Today, E-NE winds right off Lake Superior gusting to 30 mph!
ReplyDeleteTim, thanks hope you enjoyed it. Yes, we got some good rains this weekend. I am glad to read that your area got some as well. You all need it a bit more than us. It was very windy down here as well. 1-2' waves on our shores of Lake Winnebago. I took a couple pics and a vid. They're linked in the entry.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you agree with me. I feel very strongly about the way reality TV is shaping public perspective.
ReplyDeleteOSNW3, Nice history lesson! Both of my grandmothers use to say weather runs in cycles. Not much one can do about it but stay out of the way of the bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteSuzieE, thanks for reading. I think your grandmothers were right on! How is TN treating you these days?
ReplyDeleteOSNW3, weather wise spring has felt cooler than the past few years... the humidity has been very low.
ReplyDeletegarden wise my fruit trees are all loaded with baby fruit, I can't wait for the strawberries and blueberries to ripen. The asparagus is producing like crazy since the rain last week.
grass mowing: 3.5 times front and two times back.
At the end of May the family is hitting the road maybe to Glacier National Park or Great Lakes.
Got any recomendations if we choose Great Lakes area?
I never though about using the micro-film at the library for primary source weather archives. Good thinking, and amazing weather history post! Thanks for raising the blogosphere bar!
ReplyDeleteOSNW3,
ReplyDeleteI spoke too soon, the past two weekends, we have had to dodge tornadoes and truck loads of rain.
Today, our church was flooded.
check out these pics.
http://s378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/mrsgreatbritian/TSCFlood2010/
This is located 28 miles north of us so we came out soggy but not flooded.
SuzieE, perhaps your cool Spring could be El Nino related? Sounds like your growing season is well underway. We don't plant until Memorial Day. The Great Lakes in late May, eh? Well I am bias to Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Four ideas off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteThe Apostle Islands
Marquette, MI
Traverse City, MI
Door County, WI
About your flooded church photos. Looks like that water was moving at a pretty good clip creating a waterfall. The photos of the rushing water at the doors makes me think it was a flash flood. The damage looks tremendous. How is it now?
WxWatcher, it was a blast surfing through that mess. I hope you liked the tidbits of history. St. Louis is listed a few times.