The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY: Wednesday, October 22, 2008

In the East, a storm system produced scattered rain showers across a large portion of the Northeast. Rainfall totals were generally less than a half of an inch, with a few locations exceeding that total. Watertown, New York received 0.69 inches of rain. Rain showers mixed with and changed to snow showers across portions of northern New England, along with northern and western New York during the evening hours. Little or no snow accumulation occurred across most locations, with light accumulations in the higher elevations. In addition, gusty winds occurred across these regions with northwest winds gusting to 35 mph at times. Meanwhile, weather conditions were quiet across the remainder of the East. High pressure brought partly cloudy skies with dry conditions to the Mid-Atlantic, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, the Gulf Coast, and the Southeast.

A storm system brought active weather to the Nations Mid-section yesterday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms pushed across the central Plains and into portions of the Mid-Mississippi Valley. A few of these storms became strong to severe across portions of the High Plains. Golf ball sized hail fell in Garden City, Kansas. Large hail continued with that storm across areas just to the southeast of Garden City, Kansas. Also, winds gusted to 65 mph in Scott City, Kansas. Also, a 60 mph wind gust occurred in Eads, Colorado. Rainfall totals were generally under a half an inch as the storms were on the move. However, 0.78 inches of rain fell in Topeka, Kansas. To the north, scattered rain showers and isolated thunderstorms occurred across the northern Plains and into the Upper Midwest. Rainfall totals were up to a half an inch in some spots. Elsewhere, dry and mild weather occurred across most of the southern Plains.

In the West, scattered rain and mountain snow showers occurred across portions of the northern and central Rockies. This activity was generally light in nature and resulted in minor accumulations of rain and snow for most. The most organized activity pushed across the Front Range of Colorado during the evening hours. Even so, rainfall totals were less than 0.35 inches. Also, winds gusted to 40-60 mph across favored terrain in the Rockies. To the west, strong high pressure brought dry and cold weather to the Pacific Northwest and portions of the Great Basin. Highs ended up several degrees below normal in spots. Dry and mild weather occurred across the Desert Southwest, the southern Rockies, and California.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............98 Thermal, CA

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..............98 Thermal, CA

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)..............15 Embarrass, MN

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)................6 Buffalo, WY

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................65 Scott City, KS

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............0.78 Topeka, KS

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1969, the earliest heavy snow since October 1925 and 1926 occurred across portions of northern New England. Twelve inches of snow fell at Rochester, Vermont. In some mountainous areas, snow accumulated over a foot. There was limited skiing on some Vermont slopes a day later. It set the October 24-hour snowfall record at Burlington, Vermont with 5.1 inches.

In 1987, the temperature dropped to 23 degrees in Pinson, Alabama and 28 degrees at Birmingham, Alabama. These were both the coldest readings on record for so early in the season.

In 1997, a World Series baseball game between the home team Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins featured snow showers and the coldest temperatures in World Series History.

DTN-Meteorlogix/N Hamblin

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