APRIL 1998 MONTHLY REVIEW
In terms of wildness and turbulent weather, April
more than made up for a relatively tranquil
March. While only around 2.25" fell , 7 separate rain
events were noted, five causing T' Storms in the Bay
Area and vicinity. On the 24th, as storms peaked,
Sacramento was hit by a tornado and moderate
local damage was reported. Here in Pacifica, lightning was
observed only twice, but pea-hail was noted on several
other occasions. Snow on the local hills down
to 2K' was common from numerous lows all month,
and on the 14th, a line of five towering Cb and severe
T'storms with clear air ahead and in back were noted
along a line almost 200 miles long over west
central Calif. (We also had our lowest temp of
the month (42F), and also one of the lowest temp of
the year). By months end, E Pacific high
pressure had started to assert itself, with almost
80 degrees noted in Pacifica on the 21st. and 90 degree
temps noted in inland areas of the Bay Area
on the 29th. YTD rains in Pacifica ranges from
near 43" at my house to 49.88" at the official Pacifica NWS observation
site only two miles away. 55" has been reported
at San Pedro Valley Park, at the base of Montara
Mountain, only 1.5 miles away. SST has dropped
to around 57-58F degrees on average, which is still several degrees
warmer than normal. Remember, because of water's
thermal capacity, only a few degrees translates
to huge quantities of heat which can have a large
effect on rain in the form of water vapor thrown into
the atmosphere. El Nino may not be what it
was 6 months ago, but is still being felt in many
locales. At month's end, a new low has entered the picture after a
quiet last week, and current progs once again are
anticipating high turbulence. What is unusual
is the low latitude of the storm and the
abundance of cold air with it. Early May promises to
be very interesting.
MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for APR. 1998
HOME CITY: Pacifica,Ca ELEV: 540' LAT: 37.36'N LONG: 122.27'W
TEMPERATURE (°F), RAIN (in), WIND SPEED (mph)
HEAT COOL AVG
MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM
DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 50.9 57.7 2:30p 45.5 4:45a 13.4 0.0 0.03 3.9 19.0 3:00p N
2 51.8 58.0 11:00a 47.5 12:00m 12.3 0.0 0.13 4.2 19.0 3:30p SSW
3 49.7 54.5 12:15p 46.2 6:00a 14.7 0.0 0.69 4.6 22.0 12:15p S
4 50.7 56.2 4:00p 46.9 4:30a 13.4 0.0 0.02 1.9 10.0 5:15p N
5 51.0 58.1 2:30p 44.0 6:00a 14.0 0.0 0.00 2.3 15.0 4:00p SSW
6 50.4 57.4 3:00p 46.5 6:30a 13.0 0.0 0.39 3.9 21.0 1:30p S
7 51.2 56.6 1:00p 47.7 5:15a 12.8 0.0 0.04 5.1 31.0 6:00a WNW
8 53.0 59.4 12:45p 47.9 6:15a 11.3 0.0 0.00 3.8 21.0 7:15p S
9 54.4 59.7 1:30p 50.5 3:30a 9.9 0.0 0.08 5.7 25.0 10:45a S
10 54.9 60.9 12:15p 51.5 10:00p 8.8 0.0 0.03 4.5 20.0 1:30p S
11 52.4 57.1 2:00p 48.8 8:30p 12.1 0.0 0.00 4.9 31.0 3:15p NNW
12 51.0 58.0 1:00p 46.5 11:00p 12.8 0.0 0.57 6.4 28.0 7:45p S
13 48.3 54.2 12:45p 43.5 11:45p 16.2 0.0 0.20 3.0 21.0 5:00p S
14 49.4 57.1 12:30p 42.5 4:00a 15.2 0.0 0.07 2.5 17.0 2:15p WNW
15 51.8 58.9 1:30p 44.4 3:15a 13.3 0.0 0.00 3.3 19.0 5:45p N
16 54.1 62.1 10:45a 46.9 3:30a 10.5 0.0 0.00 2.6 11.0 3:45p SSW
17 54.0 59.9 3:00p 49.3 5:30a 10.4 0.0 0.00 3.1 13.0 4:00p SSW
18 54.9 61.3 12:45p 50.4 5:45a 9.2 0.0 0.00 3.8 16.0 4:45p WNW
19 54.8 59.1 3:00p 52.1 5:45a 9.4 0.0 0.00 2.8 13.0 5:30p SSW
20 56.1 64.9 1:00p 49.1 12:00m 8.0 0.0 0.00 2.3 11.0 2:00a S
21 62.9 78.4 1:30p 47.8 2:45a 1.9 0.0 0.00 2.3 18.0 12:00p SSW
22 58.5 67.5 9:45a 53.8 5:15a 4.3 0.0 0.00 7.9 45.0 11:15p S
23 55.5 59.5 2:00p 53.5 12:00m 8.5 0.0 0.12 10.4 40.0 12:30a S
24 54.1 60.3 12:45p 50.0 12:00m 9.8 0.0 0.00 5.0 26.0 9:30p WNW
25 53.7 61.5 1:30p 46.3 5:45a 11.1 0.0 0.00 2.5 23.0 12:15a S
26 56.4 67.1 12:00p 47.1 5:00a 7.9 0.0 0.00 1.8 10.0 12:45p S
27 56.8 67.1 11:45a 48.1 5:45a 7.4 0.0 0.00 2.2 10.0 11:45a SSW
28 56.0 64.7 12:15p 50.6 2:15a 7.4 0.0 0.00 2.0 9.0 2:15p SSW
29 55.5 64.8 12:15p 48.8 4:30a 8.2 0.0 0.00 2.5 18.0 9:45p SSW
30 58.2 65.2 2:15p 52.5 4:45a 6.2 0.0 0.00 9.6 49.0 5:30p S
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HEAT COOL AVG
MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM
DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR
Tot 53.7 78.4 21 42.5 14 313.3 0.0 2.37 4.0 49.0 30 S
Max >= 90.0: 0
Max <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 0.0: 0
Max Rain: 0.69 ON 4/03/98
Days of Rain: 12 (>.01 in) 6 (>.1 in) 0 (>1 in)
Heat Base: 65.0 Cool Base: 65.0 Method: (High + Low) / 2