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September 2020 wx discussion


forkyfork

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Good Wednesday morning all,  The NAEFS may have been very wrong in it's northward extent of rainfall expectations Friday, with the GFS projecting to be best on this (so far).  However, the SPC HREF is trying to develop showers along the I95 corridor late Thursday (mid level FGEN) so we're not quite done with a rain chance NJ-LI-S CT.

In the meantime,  a post included that I've sent to my family-friends on Smoke projections. 

Continuing the previous theme on West Coast smoke seen in the northeast this Wednesday morning Sept 16. It appears somewhat thinner today. Yet, it may be with us into Friday, but modeled to be less noticeable.
 
High clouds may be arriving this evening but pass above the smoke layer that is generally located between 5000 and 18000 feet aloft. The clouds should be above 20000 feet. Lower clouds (and eventually showers?) will complicate smoke visuals Thursday and Friday. I've added a couple of model forecast smoke graphics.
 
It may be of interest that we get a hint of smelling smoke late Thursday or Thursday night here in parts of the northeast, particularly terrain above 1000 feet elevation.
 
Attached are graphics showing 1) entire smoke plume at 2PM Thursday, then near surface smoke expectations Thursday afternoon at 2PM and Thursday night just after midnight (second and third graphics below from the United States HRRRX model). The last graphic is from a Canadian smoke model. You can see some advance into the northeast. So we'll see how that goes. 846A/16

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Regarding the attached graphics (01z/12):  Birds on radar  or not…

Need to check loops of reflectivity,  the VAD wind profile versus modeled wind below 3000 feet for nighttime migration, and preponderance of 20 DBZ reflectivity near roosting areas (example along lakes). Also against bird migration prediction-example attached graphic.  

To see the birds in the  morning, you'll need to see concentric rings take off during the morning.  But this was a nighttime radar image. I and others typically referenced these radar clutter's as AP.  I don't think it's clear that this was caused by bird migration although the fall bird migration period begins about this time.  I may have more confirmatory information, one way or the other in a few days.

What you can assume from most of the radars, is a mix of clutter, dust, insects, and possibly birds near the radar. The velocity measures dust/moisture etc at the intersected elevation.  Here is a link... examples are provided.https://www.weather.gov/iln/birds.

I've referenced a peer reviewed paper in the the AMS Journal Weather and Forecasting.  

HTTPS://JOURNALS.AMETSOC.ORG/WAF/ARTICLE/13/2/453/38044/DISPLAYS-OF-BIRD-MOVEMENTS-ON-THE-WSR-88D-PATTERNS

 

RESEARCH ARTICLE| 1 JUNE 1998

Displays of Bird Movements on the WSR-88D: Patterns and Quantification* 

Sidney A. Gauthreaux, Jr.; 

 

Carroll G. Belser

Wea. Forecasting (1998) 13 (2): 453–464.

https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0434(1998)013<0453:DOBMOT>2.0.CO;2

Article history

Abstract

The WSR-88D can readily detect birds in the atmosphere in both clear air and precipitation mode, and echo reflectivities of 30–35 dBZ may be realized during heavy migration events or when birds are departing a roosting site. This paper describes the appearance of birds on base reflectivity, base velocity, and velocity azimuth display wind profile products, and presents a calibration curve that relates decibel values of reflectivity to bird migration traffic rates. The recognition of bird displays in WSR-88D products is essential for the accurate interpretation of data gathered by the radar and its use in the development of forecasts. The findings also document the importance of the WSR-88D as a remote sensing tool for biological studies of birds and insects in the atmosphere and the application of such information in the avoidance of bird–aircraft collisions.

 

It is clear that migrating birds are biasing the winds aloft information generated by the WSR-88D VAD algorithms. The birds so influence the VAD wind profiles that they often can be used to document the altitudinal distribution of the migration (see Haro and Gauthreaux 1997Gauthreaux et al. 1998)

 

 

 

4. Bird roosting movements on the WSR-88D

Outside of the spring and fall migration seasons the WSR-88D readily detects concentrations of birds (and bats) as they depart and return to roost sites. The departures of birds from roost sites at dawn and near sunrise are particularly prominent on base reflectivity products as the radar beam is often bent back toward the ground because of superrefraction. Inversions of temperature and moisture influence the index of refraction of the radar beam in the atmosphere, and these conditions are characteristic of the lower atmosphere near dawn when the birds depart their overnight roost (Russell and Gauthreaux 1998). In contrast, near the time of sunset and dusk normal propagation of the radar beam usually occurs, and the beam is often too high to detect the bird targets returning to the roost unless they are flying at altitudes covered by the radar beam.

 

 

 

Because dense swarms of insects in the atmosphere produce base reflectivity displays that are quite similar to low-density bird migration displays (see Russell and Wilson 1996), it is essential that base velocity information be gathered at the same time as base reflectivity products. With a knowledge of the winds aloft it is possible to distinguish bird movements from insect movements, because the latter have air speeds that rarely, if ever, exceed 8–10 m s−1 (most are between 4 and 6 m s−1) while migrating birds typically fly at speeds greater than 10 m s−1. Because of their low air speeds insects tend to move with the wind, deviating just a few degrees from down wind, whereas birds will sometimes fly against the wind. In general, insect ground speeds exceed corresponding wind speeds by approximately 2–6 m s−1 (Schaefer 1976).

 

The recognition of migrating birds on weather surveillance radar will also clarify many of the misconceptions that television weathermen have about “noisy” or “anomalous” radar patterns that appear on national mosaics. These mosaics usually display reflectivity levels of 20 dBZ and above, because the lower reflectivity levels have been eliminated or filtered out. Despite setting the minimum base reflectivity filters at 20 dBZ, during dense bird migrations, reflectivity values from the mass of migratory birds may reach 20 dBZ levels and even reach 30-dBZ level during the seasonal peak of migration. Such patterns are commonplace at night during the spring and fall migration periods.  918A/16

 

 

1113A added migration news from 9/10-11... was Low-medium in the northeast.  

 

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48 minutes ago, wdrag said:

Regarding the attached graphics (01z/12):  Birds on radar  or not…

Need to check loops of reflectivity,  the VAD wind profile versus modeled wind below 3000 feet for nighttime migration, and preponderance of 20 DBZ reflectivity near roosting areas (example along lakes). Also against bird migration prediction-example attached graphic.  

To see the birds in the  morning, you'll need to see concentric rings take off during the morning.  But this was a nighttime radar image. I and others typically referenced these radar clutter's as AP.  I don't think it's clear that this was caused by bird migration although the fall bird migration period begins about this time.  I may have more confirmatory information, one way or the other in a few days.

What you can assume from most of the radars, is a mix of clutter, dust, insects, and possibly birds near the radar. The velocity measures dust/moisture etc at the intersected elevation.  Here is a link... examples are provided.https://www.weather.gov/iln/birds.

I've referenced a peer reviewed paper in the the AMS Journal Weather and Forecasting.  

Well, I can confirm it.  When you see that general "bloom" right after sunset, that's the ticket!  In spring and fall, that's birds taking off.  As a bird watcher, I pay close attention to nighttime radar in spring and fall, also wind and precipitation.  Yesterday, September 15, 2020 followed a night of good-looking radar, with the only caveat that there was no precipitation in the NYC-NJ area to get birds to land near daybreak.  Nevertheless, it was a good migration day along the coast with high numbers and variety of migrating birds that landed and foraged until they could take off the following night.  (Most landbirds migrate at night).

The still-to-be-worked out problem is that sometimes - actually more often than not - the radar looks great but the birds are not there in quantity in the morning.  They seem to stay aloft and keep going in clear weather with favorable winds.  Also, again using yesterday as an example, the birds did come down and were foraging all day - but then they took off again that night even though the winds - S rather than NW - were unfavorable.  This too is a "problem" yet to be solved.

 

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7 minutes ago, Cfa said:

Low of 51 here, currently 71.

Looks like ISP made it down to 50°. Getting closer to the average first 40s date of the season since 2010.

First/Last Summary for ISLIP-LI MACARTHUR AP, NY
Each section contains date and year of occurrence, value on that date.
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.
Year
Last
Value
First
Value
Difference
Minimum 05-13 (2011) 09-02 (2017) 85
Mean 05-29 09-20 113
Maximum 06-12 (2018) 10-12 (2018) 131
2019 06-04 (2019) 46 09-19 (2019) 46 106
2018 06-12 (2018) 48 10-12 (2018) 49 121
2017 06-08 (2017) 47 09-02 (2017) 49 85
2016 05-23 (2016) 49 09-25 (2016) 48 124
2015 05-23 (2015) 48 10-02 (2015) 49 131
2014 06-01 (2014) 49 09-23 (2014) 45 113
2013 05-28 (2013) 48 09-09 (2013) 49 103
2012 06-06 (2012) 49 09-17 (2012) 49 102
2011 05-13 (2011) 47 09-19 (2011) 49 128
2010 05-20 (2010) 49 09-16 (2010) 47 118
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GFS up to its old tricks again as it shows 10-straight days in the 80's and up to 93*, starting the 23rd.         Its ensemble has no 80's.        It is still devoid of precipitation.         9/27 changes by +30 from yesterday's 12Z to today's 12Z.

Asking for a BN Sept. or Oct. during the last 10 years has been futile, just 1 BN month out of 20----and that by just 0.1 degrees!.

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Temperatures rose into the lower and middle 70s today. Tomorrow will likely be several degrees warmer.

Parts of the Southwest experienced record-tying and record-breaking heat. High temperatures included:

Needles, CA: 112° (old record: 111°, 1924 and 2000)
Phoenix: 109° (tied record set in 1928)
Yuma, AZ: 111° (tied record set in 1922 and 2013)

More record heat covered parts of Europe today. High temperatures in France included:

Belin Beliet: 93°
Chateauvillain: 98°
Chablis: 94°
Cogolin: 93°
Durban-Corbières: 95°
Montignac: 93°

An even cooler air mass than the most recent one could arrive late in the week. Generally below normal readings could persist into at least the last week of September. There is an increasing possibility that September could wind up on the cool side of normal, which would be an uncommon event in recent cases preceding La Niña winters.

The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was -1.0°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was -1.0°C for the week centered around September 9. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged -1.08°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged -0.75°C. La Niña conditions have developed and will likely prevail through the remainder of autumn.

The SOI was +14.09.

Today, the preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) figure was -0.096.

On September 15, the MJO was in Phase 4 at an amplitude of 1.428 (RMM). The September 14-adjusted amplitude was 1.033.

Since 1990, there have been 11 La Niña events, 6 of which followed an El Niño winter. 10/11 (91%) case saw warmer than normal September. All 6 following an El Niño winter were warmer than normal. September mean temperatures for New York City for those cases were: 11 cases: 69.9°; Subset of 6 cases: 70.8°; Entire 1990-2019 period: 69.0°. The September mean temperature for all La Niña and neutral-cool cases following an El Niño winter (1950-2019: n=13) was 69.9°.

Since 1950, there have been five cases where a La Niña developed during June-July-August or afterward following an El Niño winter. 4/5 (80%) of those cases saw a predominant EPO+/AO+ winter pattern. The most recent such case was 2016-17. 9/10 (90%) of the La Niña winters that followed an El Niño winter featured a predominantly positive EPO.   

Based on sensitivity analysis applied to the latest guidance, there is an implied 48% probability that New York City will have a warmer than normal September. September will likely finish with a mean temperature near 68.3°.

Finally,on September 15, Arctic sea ice extent (JAXA) was 3.606 million square kilometers. To date, the summer minimum figure is 3.555 million square kilometers (JAXA). Based on 2010-2019 data, the highest 25% bound was 3.742 million square kilometers. The lowest 25% bound was 3.581 million square kilometers. The lowest 10% bound is 3.465 million square kilometers. 2020 is the second consecutive year with a minimum extent figure below 4.000 million square kilometers and the third such year on record. 2020 also has, by far, the second lowest extent on record.

In contrast, according to NSIDC historical data, the 1920 minimum extent was approximately 8.826 million square kilometers and the 1970 minimum extent was 8.757 million square kilometers.

 

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The next 8 days are averaging 66degs.     Make it 61degs., or -6.

65*(85%RH) here at 6am, scattered clouds.         71*(78%RH) by Noon.        74* by  2pm.

The Tropics:   21N 94W(new), 32N 86W(I did my dirty work),  19N 52W,  10N 26W.

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Saturday could be the earliest 50° of the season in NYC since 2013.

New York City...
   Central Park, NY
   Mocldy   Mocldy   Sunny    Sunny    Sunny    Sunny    Sunny
     /78    61/67    50/66    50/66    51/67    52/70    54/76
      /10    30/30    10/00    00/00    00/00    00/10    10/10


 

First/Last Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY
Each section contains date and year of occurrence, value on that date.
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.
Year
Last
Value
First
Value
Difference
Minimum 05-14 (2017) 09-17 (2013) 113
Mean 05-20 10-03 135
Maximum 06-02 (2015) 10-13 (2018) 146
2019 05-15 (2019) 44 10-04 (2019) 50 141
2018 05-19 (2018) 49 10-13 (2018) 46 146
2017 05-14 (2017) 46 10-01 (2017) 50 139
2016 05-16 (2016) 43 10-10 (2016) 47 146
2015 06-02 (2015) 50 10-02 (2015) 48 121
2014 05-19 (2014) 49 10-05 (2014) 46 138
2013 05-26 (2013) 48 09-17 (2013) 50 113

 

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16 minutes ago, bluewave said:

Saturday could be the earliest 50° of the season in NYC since 2013.


New York City...
   Central Park, NY
   Mocldy   Mocldy   Sunny    Sunny    Sunny    Sunny    Sunny
     /78    61/67    50/66    50/66    51/67    52/70    54/76
      /10    30/30    10/00    00/00    00/00    00/10    10/10


 

First/Last Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY
Each section contains date and year of occurrence, value on that date.
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.
Year
Last
Value
First
Value
Difference
Minimum 05-14 (2017) 09-17 (2013) 113
Mean 05-20 10-03 135
Maximum 06-02 (2015) 10-13 (2018) 146
2019 05-15 (2019) 44 10-04 (2019) 50 141
2018 05-19 (2018) 49 10-13 (2018) 46 146
2017 05-14 (2017) 46 10-01 (2017) 50 139
2016 05-16 (2016) 43 10-10 (2016) 47 146
2015 06-02 (2015) 50 10-02 (2015) 48 121
2014 05-19 (2014) 49 10-05 (2014) 46 138
2013 05-26 (2013) 48 09-17 (2013) 50 113

 

Crazy how we go from ones of the latest 50s on record to the earliest 50 within a week

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Morning thoughts...

Clouds have overspread much of the region from southeastern New York State southward. However, there remain breaks in the clouds back in a large part of Pennsylvania. As a result, today will be variably cloudy. It will also be warmer than yesterday. Temperatures will likely reach the middle and upper 70s across the region. Likely high temperatures around the region include:

New York City (Central Park): 76°
Newark: 78°
Philadelphia: 77°

An even colder air mass than the the most recent cold shot will likely begin overspreading the region tomorrow. The coming weekend will see the coolest readings so far this season.

Farther south, the heavy rains from Sally are now moving out of the greater Atlanta area after dropping 3.57" rain from yesterday into early this morning. Sally's rains have moved into Greenville and will later be advancing into Charlotte and Fayetteville.

 

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It would be great if they could find a way to install one of these near an open section of Central Park. 

https://www.newswise.com/articles/nys-mesonet-con-edison-partner-to-launch-nyc-micronet-weather-observation-network

Newswise — ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 9, 2020) – A new cluster of weather-monitoring stations will offer New York City’s energy provider real-time data to keep service reliable and resilient for its customers.

Con Edison, the energy company that serves New York City and Westchester County, is working with the University at Albany’s New York State Mesonet on the “New York City Micronet,” a new network of 17 weather-monitoring stations that will be located at company properties in the City’s five boroughs.

The NYC Micronet, also supported by UAlbany’s Center of Excellence in Weather and Climate Analytics, will help Con Edison monitor high-impact weather events and track long-term climatic changes. Con Edison is investing $3 million in the network. That includes a $1.6 million contract with the University.

Installation started this month. The network is expected to be completed by the end of October.

“This partnership with Con Edison is the latest example of NYS Mesonet providing a service to make our state more resilient to increases in weather extremes and to better inform weather risk-management decisions,” said Chris Thorncroft, director of UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, the NYS Mesonet and Center of Excellence. “UAlbany has direct access to the largest concentration of atmospheric, climate and environmental researchers in New York. We are continuing to create smart business solutions to empower industry partners statewide.”

“Climate change makes smart infrastructure planning and design essential,” said Charles Viemeister, Con Edison’s project manager. “We’ll use data from the Micronet to gain additional insight into the local short-term and longer-term impacts of climate change. We are always looking for technologies that can help us maintain the resilient, reliable service our customers need.”

The NYS Mesonet is the most advanced and largest early warning weather detection network in the nation. Its standard 126 weather stations, located across the state and in every county, offer real-time data on a number of weather variables including temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, pressure, precipitation, snow depth and soil moisture. Each station is also equipped with a camera for real-time photos.

UAlbany’s Center of Excellence in Weather & Climate Analytics is New York’s entrepreneurial hub for a network of more than 120 weather and climate faculty, researchers and research staff. Together, these experts are deeply engaged in advancing innovative weather and climate research applications for a variety of industries including utilities, agriculture, renewable energy, emergency management, transportation and Unmanned Aerial Systems. During the COVID-19 crisis, they have supported all New York utilities by providing a sophisticated weather dashboard to enhance situational awareness.

The NYC Micronet is a customized version of NYS Mesonet’s standard network and will undergo the same regular maintenance, data quality control, sensor calibrations, and visualization, performed daily at UAlbany’s Mesonet Operations Center and by technicians in the field.

This project adds to an already established relationship between UAlbany and Con Edison. In 2019, the two partners, along with MESO, Inc. created the Wind Extremes Forecast System (WEFS). It uses a combination of regional NYS Mesonet data and machine learning techniques to produce forecasts of threshold wind speeds and gusts that could lead to power outages at county and sub-county levels in New York State. 

“The goal, with both the Micronet and WEFS, is to provide NYC’s primary utility provider with valuable environmental data that can help improve resiliency for its services and mobilize resources more efficiently when severe weather strikes,” said Jerry Brotzge, NYS Mesonet program manager. “Our weather stations are quietly driving decision-making in a variety of sectors.”

NYS Mesonet data and visualizations are available for viewing at www.nysmesonet.org


https://qns.com/2020/09/con-edison-to-install-eight-weather-stations-in-queens-to-better-track-climate-trends/

In order to better understand climate trends and protect its power systems, Con Edison has partnered with the State University of New York at Albany and invested $3 million to install eight weather stations across Queens and nine more across New York, the power company announced this week.

The New York City Micronet project will see weather stations installed in Flushing, Long Island City, Astoria, Howard Beach, South Ozone Park and Maspeth. The data from the stations will help Con Edison guide its investments towards protecting its energy-delivery systems from severe weather events, according to the company.

A record number of Con Edison customers in the New York City area lost power during Tropical Storm Isaias in early August, including 73,000 customers in Queens. However, the installation of the weather stations is unrelated to the damage caused by Isaias, according Con Edison. The power stations were in progress prior to Isaias and are instead a response to all of the severe weather New York City has experienced in the past decade, a representative for the company said.

“Climate change makes smart infrastructure planning and design essential,” said Charles Viemeister, Con Edison’s project manager. “We’ll use data from the Micronet to gain additional insight into the local short-term and longer-term impacts of climate change. We are always looking for technologies that can help us maintain the resilient, reliable service our customers need.”

The weather stations will monitor temperature, air pressure, wind speeds and direction, precipitation and other weather variables. Six of the stations will be installed on the roofs of Con Edison buildings and the other 11 will be installed at ground level on Con Edison property.

The data collected by the weather stations will be sent to the university, which will in turn give the data to Con Edison and be made available to the public, the company said.

Con Edison expects the weather stations to be installed and fully operational by the end of 2020.

In addition to the weather stations, Con Edison has begun to make upgrades to its energy delivering system in Westchester County, which was heavily affected by Tropical Storm Isaias. The power company also recently commissioned a weather study, which suggested the company make an investment between $1.8 billion and $5.2 billion by 2050 on targeted programs to protect its systems against severe weather events.

 

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On 9/16/2020 at 2:45 AM, MJO812 said:

Euro is also west with Teddy.

Hits Bermuda and then landfalls in Maine.

ecmwf_mslpa_atl_6.png

ecmwf_mslpa_atl_8.png

I knew that massive high to our northeast would come into play sooner or later.

This may not be the last time this year either.

 

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On 9/16/2020 at 8:24 AM, SnoSki14 said:

40s this morning, probably the coolest weather since May or about 4 months. 

Looks really cool this weekend and I wouldn't be surprised to see lows undercutting guidance by several degrees so upper 30s maybe? 

Interesting that forecast discussion points out smoke will keep temps down several degrees today. Likely had an impact yesterday as well. 

the TCs in the Atlantic are sucking in the smoke from the west

 

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On 9/16/2020 at 8:35 AM, donsutherland1 said:

Morning thoughts...

Today will be sunny and somewhat milder. Temperatures will likely reach the lower 70s across the region. Likely high temperatures around the region include:

New York City (Central Park): 71°
Newark: 73°
Philadelphia: 73°

Tomorrow will be milder, but an even colder air mass than the most recent cold shot could arrive late in the week.  

Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, AL with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. So far, Sally has brought 24.80" rain to Escambia, FL and 24.81" to Pensacola Naval Air Station. The ASOS at Pensacola Region Airport was knocked out yesterday evening. A storm report stated, "Landscape and architectural debris found lining the streets of downtown Mobile, AL."

 

121 mph wind gust reported on AL barrier island and rainfall of 30" + near Pensacola

 

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23 hours ago, bluewave said:

Looks like ISP made it down to 50°. Getting closer to the average first 40s date of the season since 2010.

First/Last Summary for ISLIP-LI MACARTHUR AP, NY
Each section contains date and year of occurrence, value on that date.
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.
Year
Last
Value
First
Value
Difference
Minimum 05-13 (2011) 09-02 (2017) 85
Mean 05-29 09-20 113
Maximum 06-12 (2018) 10-12 (2018) 131
2019 06-04 (2019) 46 09-19 (2019) 46 106
2018 06-12 (2018) 48 10-12 (2018) 49 121
2017 06-08 (2017) 47 09-02 (2017) 49 85
2016 05-23 (2016) 49 09-25 (2016) 48 124
2015 05-23 (2015) 48 10-02 (2015) 49 131
2014 06-01 (2014) 49 09-23 (2014) 45 113
2013 05-28 (2013) 48 09-09 (2013) 49 103
2012 06-06 (2012) 49 09-17 (2012) 49 102
2011 05-13 (2011) 47 09-19 (2011) 49 128
2010 05-20 (2010) 49 09-16 (2010) 47 118

It looks like there was a 49 low on 9-2-2017?

 

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