ChescoWx

First flakes of the year here in NW Chester County PA with this squall diving down from the NW - friends up the road in Birdsboro report steady snow

This AM was just our 2nd below freezing reading of the winter season at 31.5

Near average snow last season - if you want the worst let's go to the wayback season of 1972-73 when nada - not 1" of snow fell...that was the worst if you are a snow lover

High spots in the County only made it down to 33.1 at 5am and then we started to rise. Most spots around me are down into the upper 20's - can see a lot of frost down in the valley. Still only 1 day below freezing this season.

High wind gust was 29mph - exactly 1.00" fell before midnight with heavy rain still falling at midnight. 1.57" since yesterday. Temp is down 20 degrees from a couple hours ago now at 52.9 with heavy rain still falling across Western Chesco

A warm and wet day across Western Chester County today....but nowhere close to the record warmth we used to experience back in the mid-1980's (before climate change) when we had 3 record days in a row ending today of 75.0/81.0/81.0 ....although today's 1.53" or rain was an all-time daily rain record for the county dating back to 1894. The old record was the 1.49" on this date back in 1987

1.58" storm total with the 1.53" today setting a new daily record for Western Chester County besting the old daily mark of 1.49" set on this date in 1987

Some patchy frost in the low spots of the County below 600 ft ASL...AM low here so far is the current 40.0. Here above the frost zone we have still not frost or freeze. Our growing season now stands at 205 days here in Chester County. This is now the 12th longest season on record. Looks like we will have a shot at a freeze by months end. It appears the all time record of 233 days set back in 2005 is safe...assuming we record a freeze prior to November 22nd.

Today's high of only 51.9 here in the Western Philly burbs is the 2nd coldest max temp in the philly burbs for this date since 1894...only eclipsed by the 49.0 max daily temp on this date in 1996! We also recorded 0.69" of rain so far today #PAwx

1st 30's of the year here in NW Chesco and 1st 30's since April 29th. Many lower spots below 600 ft saw some frost and freezing lows this AM. Still no frost or freeze in East Nantmeal. Today's highs across the high spots of Western Chester County ranged from 57.1 in Elverson to 60.8 at KMQS Coatesville. Here in East Nantmeal we only made it to 58.7 - a couple degrees below normal.

Record daily rain for Chester County of 1.66" besting the old mark set way back in 1914

Thanks LV...leaning toward big swings with overall near average temps but above average snow - but let's see where we stand in early November

Hello again from Paul at the East Nantmeal PA Weather Station (www.chescowx.com). Be sure to follow me on twitter at chescopawxman where I am tweeting daily climate reports, forecast updates and weather and drone photos of our beautiful Township. When I wrote my last article, in early August we had just experienced a warmer and wetter than normal July. This included 2 days that exceeded 90 degrees; however, those 2 days would be the only days all summer that exceeded 90 degrees. So technically out township never experienced a heat wave (defined as 3 consecutive days over 90) As I mentioned in my last article down in Philadelphia at the airport, they recorded 35 days over 90 degrees with multiple heat waves. The relative high elevation of our township spares us from many 90-degree days (we only average 4 in a typical summer season) . August would continue our warmer than normal stretch marking the 9th straight month of above normal temperatures. The average temperature was 72.4 which was 2.2 degrees above normal. One big change in our weather was the turn to a much drier pattern that would last throughout both August and September. During August we recorded only 2.71” of rain which was 1.59” below normal. This followed 5 straight months from March through July with above normal rainfall. September would start off wet with 1.16” of rain falling on the 2nd but only another 0.68” would fall over the remaining 28 days of the month. We would end the month with only 1.84” of rain which is 2.90” below our normal September rainfall of 4.74”. No doubt both our Township farmers and residents noticed their fields and lawns quickly turning brown. However, despite the back to back dry months we are still running 110% of normal YTD rainfall with 40.85” of rain and melted snow having fallen in East Nantmeal so far in 2019. September continued our string of above normal temperatures with an average temp of 67.3 degrees (+2.3 degrees to normal). However, we did record our 1st couple of mornings with an autumnal chill as both the 19th and 20th saw low temps in the upper 40’s with the lowest being the 47.6 on the 19th. Those mornings marked the 1st sub-50-degree temperatures in the Township since the 47.4 back on June 4th. Overall for the summer period from June through September we averaged a temperature of 71.3 this was the 45th warmest summer in Chester County since local records began in 1894. The warmest being the 74.7 average recorded way back in the summer of 1900. This year was the 6th warmest summer in the 36 years dating back to 1983. As I write this on October 6th, we have noted a pretty large pattern change that looks to persist through much of the rest of October with cooler and wetter weather in our future. We have not yet recorded a sub-freezing temperature meaning our growing season (days between last and 1st freezes) continues here in the township. The average growing season in East Nantmeal is 188 days. This has ranged from as few as 144 days in 1996 to 233 days in 2005. Today is our 188th day of this growing season. The average date of our 1st freeze is October 23rd; however, it has occurred as early as October 1st in 1993 and as late as November 23rd in 2015. Snowfall is unlikely in the township until late November; however, we have experienced significant snowfalls in the last 8 years most notably the 9” of wet snow that fell on October 29, 2011 and the 7.3” of snow that fell last November 15thand 16th. During November we average just over 1” of snow and during December just under 5 inches. Our normal average seasonal snowfall is 36.6” (fun fact this is the same as Chicago IL) I will hold off on my annual detailed monthly winter forecast until our next issue just before the holidays….however, I am expecting a slightly above normal snow season and at least one major snowstorm of greater than 10”. Until next time I hope all of you enjoy the autumn weather. If you have any questions, please visit my website, follow me on twitter or send me an email. Until next time –All the best! Paul Until next time –All the best! Paul “Some are weather-wise, some are otherwise” Ben Franklin

0.25" of rain overnight here in Western Chester County - AM low is the current 53.4

Today's high stayed in the 50's across most of the high spots in Western Chester County with Elverson at 56.2 / Hawk Hill in Downingtown at 58.3 and West Bradford at 58.0. Today's high in East Nantmeal was the coolest high since the 53.3 back on May 14th. While today's 57.7 was well below our average high of 65.9 it is not close to our lowest max temp for the date of 52.0 back in 1999

We recorded a new daily record high temperature today here in Western Chester County with a high of 87.6 breaking the all-time record of 87 set back in 1927 and local elevation record of 84 set back in 2002.

No such luck with 40's on top of the hills of NW Chester County...our low was only 51.6 - although many spots around me below 500 ft ASL have indeed hit the 40's this morning.