Wednesday, January 30, 2013

September 2012 Revisited

September 2012, compared to historical averages:

Above average: Temperature, solar radiation, wind
Average or near: Pretty much nothing
Below Average: Rain

 
September was exactly like August, only different.  Again, my station's average temperature of 64.9° was WAY warmer than the long term September average of 60.3°, and considerably warmer than the more recent (2001-2011) average of 62.0°.  The official average temperature in Hood River, recorded at HOXO, was 63.1°.

The maximum temperature (at my station) was 91°, and the low temp was 39°.
Official Hood River highs and lows (at HOXO) were 90° and 38°.  The high heat index (at my station) for the month was 87°, and the low wind chill was 39°.

Solar radiation averaged 452 Ly/day, compared to an average September solar radiation of 422 Ly/day. 

Following the trend in August, it was another very dry month.  I had 0.01" for a monthly precip total at my station, and so did HOXO.   However, the manually read station at MCAREC, didn't get any precip at all. 

On average, Hood River receives 1.01" of rain in September.  I was thinking maybe that no rain, or at the most 0.01", was a record for any September, but I was wrong.  It's actually happened a few times before, but that doesn't make it right, or even hardly acceptable.
 
The 24 hour average wind speed at my weather station was 3.1 mph, compared to an average September wind speed of 2.6 mph. The peak wind gust was 32 mph.   Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were, of course, higher.

Barometric pressure peaked at 30.38", and the low barometric was 29.80".

There were no local weather records set this month.


These monthly summaries use data from my weather station located near May and Rand Streets in Hood River. To view my weather station's data for September 2012. click here.  For official Hood River data, and historical averages/records, the data comes from both the manually read NOAA station at MCAREC, and HOXO, the automated station located right next to MCAREC.




If I were to choose just one word to describe this September, it would be "wildfires, and smoke".   Above is an interesting time-lapse looking from Hood River over to White Salmon, where the "Highway 141" fire was burning.  Further North, the "Cascade Creek" fire raged at the foot of Mt Adams.  And then, to give folks on the Hood River side of the Columbia River something to get excited about, there was the "MP 66" fire just east of Hood River.
Luckily, none of those fires resulted in loss of life, or major injury, or much damage to any structures, thanks to the much appreciated efforts of hundreds of firefighters, and others.
Also luckily, the weather (specifically the wind) played an important part in the fire control, since it changed direction from west to east, back to west, to east, to west, to east....over and over again.   The down side was that this made the smoke build up over the Mid-Columbia region (and beyond), making for quite a few days of low air quality, and low visibility.

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