RodneyS

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH ___ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 4.3 3.5 3.5 4.2 4.0 3.5 0.2 -1.7 0.3

Basically, but as Al Gore can tell you, there is a big difference between narrowly winning and narrowly losing.

Congratulations to wxdude64, who appears to have caught me at the wire when I bobbed my head. As always, the great majority of the credit belongs to Roger for organizing the contest and doing the bookkeeping. I'll give it another try in 2020, as long as Roger continues to do the heavy lifting.

It's remarkable how the early rainy DCA weekend pattern reversed during the last 31 weeks of 2019. During the first 21 weeks, 54% of weekend (Friday-Sunday) days had measurable precipitation vs. only 23% of weekdays. However, during the last 31 weeks, only 17% of weekend days had measurable precipitation vs. 41% of weekdays. Overall, 32% of weekend days had measurable precipitation vs. 34% of weekdays.

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH ___ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 0.7 -0.3 -0.3 2.6 0.7 2.4 0.3 0.4 0.6

Snowfall (11/23): DCA: 14.4" NYC: 25.1" BOS: 40.0" ORD: 35.0" DTW: 38.0" BUF: 100.0" DEN: 80.0" BTV: 88.0" SEA: 4.0"

BWI: 18.9" DCA: 14.4" IAD: 22.3" RIC: 10.4" Tiebreaker SBY: 6.4"

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH ___ DEN _ PHX _ SEA -1.3 -1.5 -0.8 -2.2 -2.1 0.1 -3.0 0.8 0.2

October 2, 2019 is in the record books for the hottest October maximum in DC, Baltimore, and Dulles. The respective maximums today were 98, 98, and 96. The previous record for DC and Baltimore was set on October 5, 1941, with respective maximums of 96 and 97. The previous record for Dulles was set October 9, 2007, at 94.

Minor correction for DCA: According to the Capital Weather Gang, September 2019 was the 3rd warmest and 4th driest September in DC history; see https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/01/washington-just-posted-its-rd-warmest-th-driest-september-record

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH ___ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 2.3 1.2 0.3 2.3 2.6 2.9 0.7 0.6 -0.1

DCA _ NYC _ BOS _ ORD _ ATL _ IAH _ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.2 2.7 2.6 1.2 2.1

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH __ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 0.6 1.1 1.5 0.6 -0.3 0.6 1.0 1.0 0.8

You're looking good right now, while I'm headed from first to worst. By the way, I think Richmond hit 99 a couple of weeks ago, but that may look cool by the time the weekend ends.

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH __ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 1.7 1.2 1.0 0.2 1.1 0.3 -0.6 0.4 1.8

Another DC precipitation record has just fallen. The previous DC record precipitation from the second half of one year to the first half of the following year was 62.16 inches, set during July 1885 to June 1886. With 0.62 inches already recorded at DCA tonight, the July 2018-June 2019 total there is 62.53 inches and counting.

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH __ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 1.6 -0.1 0.4 -2.2 1.8 1.1 -0.9 -1.3 0.9 

BWI: 97 DCA: 98 IAD: 97 RIC: 98 HGR: 97

Most of us have complained at some point about rainy days seeming to occur more often on weekends than on weekdays. However, as the Capital Weather Gang recently noted, that has actually been the case this year in this area, assuming that the weekend is defined to include Friday; see https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/05/13/washingtons-wettest-days-history-inches-precipitation-have-fallen-past-year/?utm_term=.2bb2b4bf05c4. Specifically, through the first 19 weeks of 2019 at DCA, there have been 32 weekend days on which measurable precipitation has fallen vs. only 17 weekdays on which measurable precipitation has fallen. Moreover, because there are more weekdays than weekend days, the percentage of weekend days that have received measurable precipitation is 56% (32 of 57 days) vs. only 22% for weekdays (17 of 76 days). I just ran a two-tailed T-Test to determine the probability of this pattern occurring randomly, and it works out to be about one chance in 730. So, is this rainy weekend pattern here just a fluke, or is there more to it than that?

You're right that last April was relatively cool at DCA -- 54.9 degree average, which was 1.9 degrees below the 1981-2010 normal, and 7.5 degrees cooler than this year.

April 2019 averaged 62.4 degrees at DCA, second all-time in DC to the 63.8 recorded in April 2017. However, precipitation was only 2.24 inches -- the first below normal month at DCA since October 2018.

DCA _ NYC _ BOS __ ORD _ ATL _ IAH __ DEN _ PHX _ SEA 3.2 0.0 -1.0 -1.5 3.1 1.1 -2.1 0.0 2.7 99 98 96 95 99 101 98 116 92

Congratulations to Olaf for his razor-thin victory over Stormpc, and many thanks to PFDKWx and Roger for doing the heavy lifting. As of late February, this contest could have gone a dozen different ways, as many pre-season forecasts were for a snowy March. However, the Snow Gods had other ideas, as they usually do.

Yep, the Fat Lady has sung for all contestants except Stormpc, and even for him, she's warming up in the bullpen. However, since this is the Mid-Atlantic -- i.e. Nats' -- bullpen, it's not quite over, even with an 10-run lead in the 9th inning.

This appears to be the winner, with the following departures: IAD 0.9, DCA 0.1, BWI 0.8, and RIC 0.0; for a total departure of only 1.8".