Melissa Griffin Florida CoCoRaHS State Coordinator / Asst. State Climatologist (850) 644-0719 griffin@coaps.fsu.edu

Observer Comments Corner

I will admit that I didn't get to read as many comments last month as I would've liked.  I usually escape to a Florida beach during October for some 'beach therapy' and to enjoy the last few warm days before Fall takes hold in the state.  I also spend a week this month up at NOAA Headquarters, discussing heat and human health, which got me out of my normal morning routine. There were some common themes in the comments I did see...

... Some of you enjoyed the return of cooler weather,

FL-MD-59 on 10/5/2014: "Ahhh, Autumn. Well at least a (very) slight chill in the air. No changing of the colors...this is Florida style :) Pre-frontal precipitation amount of 0.04 in. Whoopie!" 

FL-AL-40 on 10/5/2014: "High 81 Low 57 (at midnight this morning) Low was 49 this morning. Partly cloudy half the day, but clear later in the PM. Clear this morning and cool. Love this weather. Shut off the AC!" 

FL-HB-10 on 10/18/2014: "After a cool overnight low of 60°, daybreak brought clear skies, breezy air and gradual warming, with an eventual daytime high of 82° at my South Tampa location today. " 

FL-IR-26 on 10/20/2014: "59 was the overnight low. Skies are clear and cool WX is here."

... The front that moved through mid-month made an impression, 

FL-LB-1 on 10/14/2014 :"Daily and monthly daily rainfall record (3.28"). Supercell thunderstorm responsible for two tornadoes in Sumatra went over our location. No damage at our location. Lightning and thunder was constant and loud."

FL-JF-9 on 10/14/2014 :"Sorry for the reporting delay - lightning too dangerous to venture out, at least until daylight!" 

FL-HB-5 on 10/15/2014 :"Off and on thunderstorms and showers. Strong storm over Carrollwood at 5:00 PM. Was on Dale Mabry and it got so dark all the street lights came on. It looked like Armageddon but it was all show with relatively little rain or wind." 

FL-VL-2 on 10/15/2014 :"Strong lightning during passing of the cells. I also saw ball lightning, the first I ever remember seeing." 

... And it was dry.

FL-BW-1 on 10/24/2014: "It's an extremely rare south Florida morning when I get to read the gauge in the rain. Today was one of those ~1% mornings lol"

FL-VL-5 on 10/28/2014 :"No rain. Beginning to wonder just how long this dry spell can last. The cobwebs in my rain gage are getting pretty thick." 

FL-MR-32 on 10/30/2014 :"Another beautiful day but no rain for 2 weeks." 

FL-DV-63 on 10/31/2014 :"We got cheated on the rainfall! There was barely any "dampness" it the water collection buckets. >(" 

One of the hardest parts about the beginning of the month falling on a weekend, is I don't have a chance to send out important reminders... Like November 2nd signaled the end of Daylight Saving Time and it's time to turn our clocks back. This year, I didn't forget, but my plans to catch another hour of sleep were foiled by my own internal clock. Some of you might be wondering if you need to adjust your observation time now that we've gone back to Standard Time. Well, I'm happy to say that if you've been reporting at 7:00 AM, then continue to report at 7:00 AM.

As the holidays quickly close in, some of us (myself included) will be spending time with family and will be leaving a beloved member of our family behind to keep watch over our residences- our rain gauge. But fear not! Our rain gauge will be patiently waiting for our return and with any hopes it will have a gift waiting for us... a little precipitation. If you're gone longer than a day and have some liquid sunshine waiting for you, please remember to use the multi-day precipitation form when entering your amount.

And speaking of holidays... The CoCoRaHS 2015 Rain Gauge calendars are on sale and would make a fantastic gift for a fellow observer or any weather enthusiast. You can order your copy from WeatherYourWay: http://www.weatheryourway.com/cocorahs/cal2015coco.htm 

Ed (a Dade County observer since 2007) shared this beautiful picture of a double rainbow from his home.

 

I mentioned earlier that I spent a week at the beach.  This year, I ventured down to Clearwater Beach for the first time in the 17 years I've lived in Florida. The sunsets were glorious and I wish my camera could've captured the colors more vividly.  

I love getting pictures from other observers too! So as you're out and about over the next month, snap a couple of photos and send them my way. You may see them in our next newsletter.

Departures from normal roughly ranged from -4.35" to 1.64" (Table 1), though localized parts of Florida saw rainfall totals that were as much as 5.00" below normal to over 8.00" above normal (Figure 1). Most of the Florida Peninsula reported monthly rainfall totals below normal, though areas of the Panhandle and Big Bend saw near to above normal rainfall. October 2014 was the 4th driest in Daytona Beach (0.58") in the 92 years records have been kept at the station. Most of the stations across the state reported 10 days or less in the month with measurable (>=0.01") rainfall; while Miami reported 11 days during October. There were multiple 24-hour precipitation records broken for the month (Table 2).

Table 1. October precipitation totals and departures from normal (inches) for selected cities.

Table 2. Select daily rainfall records (inches) broken during October (Compiled from NOAA, NWS)

Figure 1. A graphical depiction of the monthly rainfall departure from normal (inches) for October is given in the figure below (courtesy of NOAA, NWS).

Here are the CoCoRaHS rainfall totals for October from some select CoCoRaHS stations across the state.  

The continued lack of rainfall kept abnormally dry (D0) and moderate (D1) conditions across the northern portion of Florida at the beginning of the month. But after the first week in October, the area of D1 and D0 was reduced in the western Panhandle, and even removed in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Washington, Holmes and Bay counties. Toward the end of the month, dry conditions reappeared in portions of the far western Panhandle. The area around Lake Seminole still remains in D1 in Florida, but impacts of severe drought (D2) are being reported in Georgia, just over the state line. Despite the below normal rainfall across most of the peninsula, drought conditions were kept in check during the October and Lake Okeechobee reported a lake level near 16 ft., well within normal range. November is typically one of the drier months across the Sunshine State, and limited rainfall could exacerbate the current dry conditions  

Make sure to check out the monthly Wx Talk Webinars offered by CoCoRaHS.  Each month features a different weather related topic and gives a chance for our observers to interact with the speaker.  If you are unable to attend or have missed some of the previous month's talks, you can find them archived on the CoCoRaHS YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/cocorahs/ 

Make sure to like Florida CoCoRaHS on Facebook!  Observers can now post comments and pictures to the wall.