A day that began with some valley fog and sun across the Alleghenies with fog, low clouds east. Storms building in the afternoon. A small brief tornado in Somerset County.
Bittinger 2NW Valley
rainfall .10
Dyacon Data Below
Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley evening
The Glades
Garrett County Airport
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Top of Wisp
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
Climate Reference Network Canaan
–
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
Canaan Ski areaCanaan Ski area
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
––
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
Rain gauge issues noticed early month. Discovery was a animal chewed through the cable. An attempted cable repair was made. Appeared to fix it, but issues returned. The cable may be too far damaged. The nearby Emergency Management station at the Mt.Davis towers precipitation amounts tallied in the chart.
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Glades and Canaan Valley Temp Trek
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
–Northern Cabin Mt had sensor issues to start the month, so I eliminated that part
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Canaan area temps
–
High Ground Comparison
–
Up High and Down Low
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Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
–
The Valleys
–
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
–
RTMA
August
Radar
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Tornado in Somerset County
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August 2024
Temps *** there may be some revision to this I’m told by Prism so I’ll wait to add
A sharp contrast west to east today. From fog, drizzle, cloudy east to blue sky, sun west, as well as much warmer.
Bittinger 2NW Valley
rainfall .81
Dyacon Data Below
West of Bittinger morning Up from Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Towards Bowman Hill morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning daybreak
Garrett County Airport
Mchenry morning –
Top of Wisp
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
7am to 7am data mmts coop BP
Climate Reference Network Canaan
–
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
Canaan ski areaCanaan ski areaCanaan ski areaCanaan ski area
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
–
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Difference was Mt Davis had a.m sum awhile, Bittinger 2NW Valley did not
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
Low level moisture east not detected by radar. That lingered in to early afternoon in spots
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Cranesville
Grantsville to Savage Mt
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Frostburg
Lavale to Cumberland
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Polish Mt
Town Hill
––
Sideling Hill Creek at North craft
Webcams
–
those images through the morning hours
Savage Mt held like this in to early afternoon Western Garrett SunAnd eastern PrestonAfternoon sky broke. Savage Mt hung on the Longest
Sun, clouds to start. Warm, muggy and om storms beginning midday and areas of heavy rains.
Bittinger 2NW Valley
precip .02 (most occured after my 6pm precip recording time)
Dyacon Data Below
West of Bittinger morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning West of Bittinger morning Rock Lodge Rd near The Glades morning Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon.
Garrett County Airport
Deep Creek Lake morning Deep Creek Lake morning By Glendale afternoon. First mini stormBy Glendale afternoon (early)Mchenry eveningMchenry evening
Top of Wisp
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
7am to 7am data mmts coop BP
Climate Reference Network Canaan
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Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
––
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
––
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Clouds and sun a.m. Warm day. Building clouds, areas of pm showers and storms.
Bittinger 2NW Valley
rainfall .41, MTD 4.04, YTD 38.33
Dyacon Data Below
Rock Lodge Rd near The Glades morning West of Bittinger morning West of Bittinger morning West of Bittinger morning West of Bittinger morning Up from Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening West of Bittinger evening West of Bittinger evening West of Bittinger evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening
Garrett County Airport
By Garrett College morning Cherry Creek at Mosser Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Deep Creek Lake morning Deep Creek Lake morning 219/Glendale morning Deep Creek Lake morning
Top of Wisp
Evening
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
7am to 7am data mmts coop BP
Climate Reference Network Canaan
–
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
–
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
–
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Rock Lodge Rd near The Glades morning West of Bittinger morning West of Bittinger morning Up from Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon “cherry”Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon “apple trees area wide are loaded”Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Bittinger 2NW Valley evening West of Bittinger evening
The Glades
–––––––––––––––––––
Same video but on YouTube
Garrett County Airport
Cherry Creek at Mosser Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Deep Creek Lake morning Hammel Glade afternoon
Top of Wisp
Afternoon
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
Climate Reference Network Canaan
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Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
–
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
Evening photos
–––––Black Gum adding lots of red––––––––––––––
same video but on YouTube
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050
The Glades and Canaan Valley Refuge
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Areas of sun, clouds, some areas of showers and storms.
Bittinger 2NW Valley
rainfall – trace
Dyacon Data Below
Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley morning West of Bittinger morning West of Bittinger afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon Bittinger 2NW Valley afternoon “goldenrod”Bittinger 2NW Valley evening West of Bittinger evening West of Bittinger evening
Garrett County Airport
Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning Rock Lodge Rd morning State Park Rd morning Deep Creek Lake middayRailey Cam morning
Top of Wisp
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
7am to 7am data mmts coop BP
Climate Reference Network Canaan
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
–
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
––
Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
Bittinger 2NW Valley morning Bittinger 2NW Valley evening Up from Bittinger 2NW Valley evening
Garrett County Airport
––
Top of Wisp
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
7am to 7am data mmts coop BP
Climate Reference Network Canaan
–
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
Canaan ski camCanaan ski cam
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
* station with sensor issues in dates highlighted in red. It did however in most cases grab the max, min or very close to it. However the daily average will be significantly altered.
Spruce Knob
Canaan Valley Refuge
Mt.Davis
–
Snowshoe
* CWOP station located at 4534′ on Snowshoe
Petersburg Grant County Airport
Elkins Airport
Site Comparison
Dy007-Canaan Valley Refuge 3150′, Dy008-Bittinger 2nw Valley 2600′, Dy002-Cabin Mt at Bald Knob 4350′, Dy003-Cabin Mt-Western Sods 4035′, Dy004-Spruce Knob 4820′, Cvpw2-Climate Reference Network Canaan 3380′, KW99-Petersburg Grant County Airport 961, K2G4 Garrett County Airport 2933′, KCBE Cumberland Airport 774′, KEKN Elkins Airport 1985′, KMGW Morgantown Airport 1227′, PMN16-Mt.Davis 3038′, KDCA-Reagan National 15′, G1472 Snowshoe 4500′, F0183 Burkes Garden 3050′
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Bittinger 2NW Valley vs Mt.Davis
*dry ground+sun exposure is a bigger impact on the Mt.Davis site mid afternoon
Canaan area temps
High Ground Comparison
Up High and Down Low
Up High, High Valley, Low Valley
The Valleys
Wv High Ground Cold Spots vs DCA
RTMA
Radar
void regionally
Satellite
Flow
Current Surface Features and 500mb Height Anomalies and Flow
For this week, we will start with the week that was, and that will include the micro climates. Those microclimates did their thing this week over and over.
The week:
The low pressure that brought just a bit of rain last weekend and to start the week was rapidly followed by a cold area of high pressure with air right down from Hudson Bay. That’s the big story of the week. The cool temps, fall like conditions.
Temps over the last 5 days look like:
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And the last 3 days:
Temps the last 3 days running 10-15° below average for later August.
Underneath the high pressure, we have seen many valleys experience 30s the last 3 mornings, with coldest pockets going below freezing. Some of those high bogs in the mid to upper 20s.
Dave Carroll of Virginia Tech recorded a high bog temp on the Sods this week of 25°, I had a 29.2° on Canaan Mt Bog, and 29.4°, and 29.6° on The Glades in Garrett County this week.
The Glades 8/21/24The Glades 8/21/24
8/21 and 8/22 @ The Glades
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and Canaan Mt bog 8/21 and 8/22 below
Canaan Mt bog 8/22Canaan Mt Bog 8/22
and a high Sods bog on 8/21 below
-image from Dave Carroll-Virginia Tech Image from Dave Carroll-Virginia Tech
Data from The Glades and Canaan Mt Bog for 8/23 as of the time of this post have not been collected yet, but likely another morning around freezing.
At the Virginia Tech Northern Canaan Valley station,
The last 3 mornings running right around 31°. The high shallow bogs often do a bit better in the ideal summer setups vs the deeper more protected Northern Canaan Valley site, as the northern valley site tends to fog in heavier through the night, and that helps stabilize temps just a bit.
All the microclimates are sensitive to anything that disrupts the heat loss, inversion layer/decoupling. (Moisture, wind, clouds)
Just the other night watching the Northern Valley station temps online, a small pocket of low clouds moved overhead
and just that brief period, the temps that were on the plummet, respond immediately
Temps respond immediately again as the skies cleared back out, as outgoing longwave radiation loss increases and heat returns to space, the temp began its downward decent once more, but still stabilized by moisture.
The high shallow bogs, while just a bit less impacted by moisture as the deeper Valley station, are much more wind impacted. The inversion layer is low, shallow. As long as it’s in place, you can have at times 20°-30° spreads in a very short distance and much more extreme than the deeper valley site to the top of Cabin Mt just 2 miles as the crow flies. These high bogs, especially on the Sods can see these temp spread variations in much shorter distance and much less vertical. >100 feet vertical vs a nearly 1000′ vertical to the valley floor.
First let’s look at an inversion and radiational cooling example:
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and radiational cooling
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Now put that in to topography and especially high elevated open topography. I mention “open” as forest and trees inhibit outgoing longwave radiation.
There are other examples of this, but the Tucker County-Canaan /Sods area is the meca for this.
This example coming up below is a elevational profile from Canaan Mt across to Cabin Mt with the valley in between. Again, only an example and where the inversion layer sets up, if it does. That is dependent on the big factors of winds and even wind direction, cloud cover, moisture of the air mass. Once the valley decouples from the air mass above, above the inversion layer, it can continue to radiate outgoing longwave radiation. Cold air sinks. Continues to cool. Depending on how moist the airmass is, the temp, and dewpoint will equal, fog will begin to form and then the drop rate slows dramatically. As the fog later grows, it can cap off the deeper valley temp drop by limiting outgoing longwave radiation. This illustration also shows, with that inversion layer and deeper valley, how it’s more protected against winds mixing it out vs whats in the upcoming example following this with the shallow bogs. Another point not made in the illustration. There has been enough data comparison and observations in Canaan that the southern end of the valley, those coldest locations in the instances when the northern valley, which is lower, fogs in quicker and heavier, while the slightly higher, upstream southern end of the valley remains a bit more conducive for radiational heat loss vs the northern end. Overall though, it’s not frequent enough to offset the northern end being the colder end overall.
–
The Shallow bogs
This would not be a uncommon setup to see occur across the high bogs. Much less vertical, much shorter land distances and much greater temperature spread with the much much shallower inversion layer. These can be scoured out easier by winds, but once established they decouple from the air mass above and at night time hold their own relatively well. Surprisingly so. You can be at Bear Rocks at night and have a stiff breeze and 50° and drop in to the small bog area that’s decoupled and run 20° colder with calm conditions. Now as winds do pick up, it can wipe that out. A rough guess is 10+mph winds can do that. At night, winds tend to relax in many instances with any high pressure in place. A southwest return flow and any stronger wind with disturbances (low pressures) etc moving through would eliminate the inversion.
With these high bogs, elevation in this case matters. They “can” cool more with elevation vs the deeper valley when conditions are right, and they tend to be somewhat drier. That’s 2 favorable aspects at times that favor them being colder. Limited data has been collected, enough so to draw some of these conclusions. Overall these high bogs would give you the overall coolest average temps in the state. Enough elevation to keep daytime maxes lower, but the depression at the elevation is enough to collect the cold air at night and the sum of the 2 would put it below the overall mean of the 4800′ ridges. There isn’t enough lapse rate for the daytime maxes to offset. The daytime max spread from Spruce Knob to the Northern Canaan Valley station is enough to offset the overall mean. However it’s much closer than one would think in saying 3150′ mean is not much different than the 4820′(station ele) mean.
In these inversions. Once above the inversion layer. The lapse rate is often normal. 3800′ above the inversion will be warmer than 4200′ that’s above. However throw in a 4000′ bog, that’s develops an inversion you’ll have that pocket of cold.
Many times you’ll hear or see on social media when folks ask about the temperatures at the Sods. I see many say. Look at the Davis forecast and subtract 10° or 15° etc. Davis, while isn’t a location the cold pools and continues cool.as great as some of these other sites, it’s still a open valley area and Davis at times may run 20° cooler than the ridges at the Sods at NIGHT. This is stressed at night under clear,calm conditions.
Our microclimates, believe it or not are often the first places in the east to see frost. Many times the first place to hit freezing. So far this month the coldest temp recorded on Mt.Washington is 36°. Just this morning. That’s a much different beast though, as it occured with 55mph winds.
and a well publicized location for radiational cooling with low night temps is Saranac Lake. Which has not dropped below 42 this month. They did have some moisture, clouds this week, which inhibits radiation cooling.
Local microclimates have now had frost in each month this summer and this August have been under freezing on 3 occasions while elsewhere in the east, hasn’t been really all that close.
Hopefully someday we have a live station at the Glades.
Radiational cooling is a fascinating subject. If one has kids, or perhaps looking for a school project. This is a experiment worth trying and documenting. Go to 1:30 in(or watch the whole thing) and watch from there.
Outside of rain last weekend in to the early week, we turned dry and fall like. Rainfall amounts in general were under a inch. I had .74 at Bittinger 2NW Valley over the 7 day period of 8/13 to 8/20 which is the dates the drought monitor is updated.
many areas in that ballpark .
–
below normal for the brief period.
–
For the month
many areas in the Alleghenies in the 3-4″ range for the month which is slightly above normal. Which is mostly thanks to Debby. If you missed out on much from Debby, you’re below for the month after a much below June-July.
The recommended drought tool, that someone mentioned this week is:
–
A closer view
and this does appear to much better represent the status of areas east.
–
That did not receive much rain this week but somehow improved
Areas east improved out of the D2 drought with no rain, simply because last week’s maps were not accurate. Again, that’s areas east, not over the Alleghenies. Where stream levels are low, things are still dry. Soil moisture has improved, and the shorter days and cool temps helped that stabilize.
Looking ahead.
a quick look off the GFS downscaled MOS for Garrett County.
We do warm up. Back above normal a bit. Normal highs in the Alleghenies mainly low to mid 70s to end August. Not extreme or anything like the heat waves in June or July.
Dewpoints for a good portion, not all the time remain pretty comfortable and bearable. This off the blended model for Garrett County.
Up above 60 for dewpoints gets a bit muggy, uncomfortable, but for the most part, it’s not all that bad. With the dry air in place frequently over the period. Valley night time temps will be much cooler than modeled. Models do not model for localized topography. In general forecast do not.
Rainfall is looking pretty sparse over the next week. Slight chances early week, and late week. Which late week is plenty far out yet to see some change with that.
Allegheny Mountains Weather 