Third Driest April on Record

It's official. April's total rainfall of just over one inch (1.09")  was the third driest on record at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford. In fact, the inch-plus of rain was well below the 4.12" normal for the month. Just one-hundredth of an inch of rain fell over the last ten days last month, and only three of the last 17 days of April featured measured rain. Six of the 30 days (20%) had measured rain, with the greatest 24-hour rainfall of 0.55" on April 12 & 13.

April was slightly warmer-than-normal with an average temperature of 49.7 degrees. That's less than a half-degree above normal (49.3 degrees). The month started much cooler-than-normal with five of the first seven days featuring below normal temperatures. Twelve of the 30 days (20%) were colder-than-normal, four days featured normal average temperatures, and 14 days were warmer-than-normal.

The following graphic shows the April climate summary for the six regional weather stations. Notice the rainfall amounts for LaGuardia Airport (1.15") and Islip, New York (1.53") were the second driest on record for those two locations. All five stations reported a monthly normal average temperature at or close to normal. Kennedy Airport's average of 51.3 degrees was 0.6 degrees below normal, while Islip's average temperature of 49.1 degrees was 0.6 degrees above normal.

Climatologically, April is the second wettest month of the year across southwestern Connecticut, trailing March (4.15") in average monthly rainfall based on the last 40 years. In addition, April's recent history includes two memorable and record-breaking rainstorms. The wettest single-day precipitation total of 5.33" of rain at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford occurred Sunday, April 23, 2006. One year later, over three inches (3.02") of rain fell Sunday, April 15, 2007.

The dry spell will continue through the upcoming weekend and the start of next week. Only one-hundredth of an inch of rain has been measured at the airport over the last 12 days. If dry conditions continue for much longer, the region will be classified as being in a "drought." The next chance of any rain will happen by the middle of next week, and that doesn't seem too impressive at this point.

Paul

May Brings Brighter & Longer Days

Can you believe today is the first day of May? Where did April go? When the final statistics are tabulated, last month will go down as the third driest April on record with just 1.09" of precipitation. In fact, only one-hundredth of an inch of rain was measured at Sikorsky Memorial Airport over the last 10 days of the month. May will begin in much the same fashion with generally fair weather expected through the upcoming weekend.

The average daily temperature for May jumps from 54 degrees on May 1 to 64 degrees by the end of the month. There have been several days on which the mercury topped 90 degrees, the most notable being 97 degrees on May 20, 1996, which came one month after the last snow of the snowiest season on record, and 94 degrees on May 26, 2010, which was a record for the date. The record low for the month is 31 degrees, set on May 10, 1966. The warmest May on record was in 1991 when the mercury averaged 64.4 degrees.

Can it snow in May? Yes. Believe it or not, there have been two days with at least a trace of snow, including May 27, 1961, which is just over three weeks from the start of Summer! There was also a trace of snow on May 9, 1977. May is the second wettest month of the year, on average, behind March. The normal rainfall for the month is 4.03 inches, based on 40 years of record-keeping. The wettest May happened in 1989 when 9.53″ fell, while the wettest single day rainstorm delivered 3.21″ on May 29, 1968.

The amount of daylight continues to grow each day through the end of the month. There are exactly 14 hours of daylight today when the Sun rises at 5:50 and sets at 7:50. However, by the end of the month, there are just about 15 hours of daylight as the Sun comes up at 5:22 and sets at 8:19. Three weeks later, on the Summer Solstice, the Sun sets at 8:30, which is only 11 minutes later than on the last day of May.

According to weather legend, "Those who bathe in May, will soon be under clay. Those who bathe in June, bathe a bit too soon." The Full Flower Moon happens this Saturday, May 25, at 12:25 a.m. EDT. In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus, the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon. Happy May!

Paul

Unusually Dry April One for the Record Books

We need some rain. This month has been quite dry. In fact, it will be the third driest April on record across southwestern Connecticut. Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford has received just over one inch (1.08") of  rain through yesterday, which is well below the 3.62" normal through the date. April is normally the third wettest month of the year with 3.99" of precipitation, just behind March (4.15") and May (4.03").

In fact, this will be the second driest month since January of 2010. Local climatologist Ralph Fato of Norwalk took a look at the precipitation totals for each of the last 40 months, and the only drier month than this month was last March when just 1.04" of rain fell. There have been just six days with measured rain this month, with the highest single-day total of 0.51" on April 12. Two days (April 10 & April 20) had a half-inch of rain.

Magnifying the dry weather was a drier-than-normal March. Just over two-and-a-half inches (2.51") of precipitation fell last month, which was more than an inch-and-a-half below normal. There were just seven out of 31 days (22%) with measured precipitation in March. Two days (March 8 & 12) had well over a half-inch of precipitation, while four of the days had less than a quarter of an inch.

The latest Drought Monitor as of April 23 classifies our region as being "abnormally dry," although not officially in a drought. However, no major storms are expected over the next week, which will not help. There may be a brief sprinkle or shower Monday, but that's about it. Much of the Plains is either in exceptional drought or extreme drought.

Since March 1, we've received less than 50% normal precipitation. The 3.62" over the last two months is well below the 7.53" normal. We've had more than 10 inches of precipitation (10.64") this year, which is still well below the 13.42" normal through the period. I suspect if the trend continues for the next week or longer, the region will be in a "moderate drought" classification.

Despite the dearth of rain, you should get outside this weekend. It will be one of the nicest weekends this year. We can expect mostly sunny skies and daytime high temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s tomorrow and Sunday. Nighttime lows will drop into the 30s tomorrow morning and mid 40s by Sunday. Monday will become mostly cloudy with a sprinkle or two possible, but not nearly enough to offset the extremely dry weather over the last two months.

Paul

Record Single-Day Rainfall Happened Seven Years Ago Today

April weather can certainly be damp and cool across southwestern Connecticut, but what happened seven years ago today was unforgettable and record-setting. We were deluged with rain Sunday, April 23, 2006, and it caused flooded basements, closed roads, forced evacuations, and claimed two lives locally. In fact, nearly a half-foot of rain fell at Sikorsky Memorial Airport, making it the highest single-day rainfall total on record.

Unfortunately, the rain continued to hammer southwestern Connecticut all day long, while the Sun was shining at Yankee Stadium during the baseball game between New York and Baltimore in the Bronx. That was probably the most frustrating aspect, just waiting for the rain to stop. The rain was moving from South-to-North instead of West-to-East.

There's no question the 6.39" of rain which fell in Fairfield seven years ago today is the most ever in one-day in my lifetime. I can't ever recall that much rain in a 24-hour period. The previous October was record-setting due to the foot-and-a-half of rain which fell during the month, but it was spread out over a prolonged period of time. This time, nearly two months worth of rain fell in 24 hours.

Firefighters evacuated more than 30 people, including infants, with an inflatable boat as more than five feet of water flooded streets between Halley Avenue and Mountain Grove Cemetery in Fairfield that day. Fire Chief Richard Felner, a good friend of mine, said that nobody was injured in the worst flooding to hit Fairfield in at least a decade.

Around town, most of the people with whom I spoke had their own tales to tell. Most of the people who live along the Rooster River said it was the worst flooding in their neighborhood in more than 25 years. According to The Connecticut Post, Toni Bodor of Fairfield said what many of us felt. "It just kept going. Before we knew it, it was right to the top of the wheels of my car. It happened so suddenly. I kept checking out one window, the front and back, before I realized I couldn't move my car."

The magnitude of the flooding in Fairfield hit me with news of the death of a town resident. According to our morning newscast, seventy-one year old Elsbeth Schubiger lived with her husband on Bradford Street, just feet from the Rooster River. Investigators found her body lodged between a tree and a retaining wall the following morning.

Police say Schubiger was cleaning up debris along the swollen river when she apparently slipped, lost her balance, and fell into the fast-moving waters. Her death is a tragic reminder of nature's wrath, even in one's own backyard.

As for neighboring Bridgeport, the city established a single-day record of 5.3" which caused 13 people to be evacuated from an apartment building where up to four-feet of water built up in front of the three-story structure. Firefighters were able to remove six residents by boat, while the seven remaining residents were escorted to safety 45 minutes later.

Westport received nearly a half-foot of rain (5.37"), and the heavy rains contributed to the death of a Shelton child early Sunday morning. The youngster, who celebrated her first birthday the previous Tuesday, died when the car in which she was riding, slid out of control on the Merritt Parkway in Westport.

Rainfall totals from across southwestern Connecticut were impressive, to say the least. Other communities with at least four inches of rain included Milford (5.46"), New Canaan (5.17"), Norwalk (4.87"), Woodbridge (4.79"), and Southport (4.31"). Consider that the normal rainfall for the entire month of April is 3.99" based on 40 years of averages.

A storm system will pass to the East today, bringing cloudy skies, gusty winds, and much cooler-than-normal temperatures. The mercury may even struggle to reach 50 degrees. The normal high temperature for this time of the year is 60 degrees. It has been a relatively dry April, although some showers are expected tomorrow night. Fair and seasonable weather will return later Thursday through the upcoming weekend.

Paul

Celebrate Earth Day This Monday

This Monday, April 22, is Earth Day, which was first observed 43 years ago on the same date in 1970. There's no question we've become better stewards of our planet over the last four decades. Earth Day founder Senator Gaylord Nelson passed away in July of 2005 at the age of 89. He believed strongly that education is the key to changing people’s attitudes about the environment, and he devoted much of his time and energy to that challenge.

“The idea of Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962,” he wrote before his death. “For several years it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November of 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political ‘limelight’ once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue. It was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.”

According to Senator Nelson, the first Earth Day “worked” because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. Though he felt he and his committee had neither the time nor resources to organize the 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated, “it organized itself.”

So, how have things changed in the last 43 years? Certainly, we’ve become more aware of the need to take better care of our planet. Many imporant laws were passed in the wake of the first Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, and laws to protect water, wild lands, and the ocean. The Environmental Protection Agency was created within three years of the first Earth Day.

Personally, I’ve seen a dramatic change over the last 43 years. What I clearly remember as a child is taking a weekly pilgrimage with my Dad every Saturday afternoon to the town dump. Dad loaded the family car with all kinds of debris and junk from the basement, and we followed the dirt path, greeted the seagulls, and dumped everything at the landfill. The garbage was simply buried. Today, our garbage is turned into electricity or, in some cases, steam.

Garbage isn’t something most of us want to think about, but managing nearly 230 tons we generate each year has consequences. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of garbage Americans generate has increased from 88 million tons to over 229 million tons since 1960. Forty-seven years ago, Americans produced about 2.7 pounds of garbage each day. By 2001, though, that amount jumped to 4.4 pounds a person each day.

I’m impressed at what has been done locally to address the issue of waste reduction. The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority’s Bridgeport Project consists of a 2,250 ton-per-day mass-burn trash-to-energy facility, eight transfer stations, two landfills, a regional recycling center, and the Children’s Garbage Museum. The Bridgeport Project provides solid waste disposal and recycling services to 20 Connecticut communities in Fairfield and New Haven counties.

The Bridgeport Project trash-to-energy plant, which is located at 6 Howard Avenue in Bridgeport is truly an impressive facility. Take your family there, and I’m sure all of you will be amazed at what you see. It’s the perfect example of how “one man’s trash becomes another man’s treasure.” I’ve visited the plant several times, and each time I come away with a better understanding of how we manage our trash.

The solid waste is burned in a controlled environment to create electricity. Through this process, the volume of solid waste is reduced by about 90%. Waste-to-energy plants nationwide generate enough electricity to power nearly 2.3 million homes. Energy created in the Bridgeport facility has about the same environmental impact as energy produced from natural gas, and less impact than from oil or coal plants.

Recycling? We never bothered to recycle anything over a generation ago. Everything was considered “trash” back then. Now, we carefully sort our recyclables each week and place them in the blue bins. Recycled items include paper, aluminum, steel, plastics, glass, scrap tips, cell phones, and electronics. Americans recycled and composted nearly 30% of municipal solid waste in 2001, diverting 68 million tons to recovery.

Did you know, for example, that 71% of all newspapers are recovered for recycling? Over a third goes back into making more newsprint. The remainder is used to make paperboard, tissue, and insulation. Seventy-four percent of boxes are recycled, and nearly 46% of office papers are recovered for recycling. These become raw material for printing and writing paper.

So, yes, we’ve come a long way since the first Earth Day was “celebrated” on April 22, 1970. Much has been done since then, but there’s still a long way to go. Gaylord Nelson said education was the key to changing people’s attitudes about the environment, and the more aware we become about our planet, the better we'll be able to take care of it.

Paul

Fishing Season Opens

Opening Day of the new fishing season is Saturday, and it looks like a rainy start for the early-morning anglers. However, any showers will quickly taper off by 8 or 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, and we'll see clearing skies with daytime high temperatures close to 60 degrees, which is just about normal for this time of the year. Sunday will be the pick of the weekend, though, under sunny skies and highs in the upper 50s off chilly morning lows in the 30s.

Anglers young and old alike are looking forward to tomorrow. Fishing is great family fun and a healthy outdoor activity enjoyed by everyone. The Department of Environmental Protection stocks many lakes and streams with a wide variety of fish species throughout the year. Some of the other programs developed by DEP to enhance fishing opportunities include fishing education for children and families and the creation of special fishing areas such as trout parks.

One of my neighbors told me that there's nothing quite like getting up in the middle of the night and heading to the nearest river or stream on Opening Day. He always looks forward to the first day of fishing season. He told me that he packs his breakfast and lunch and leaves the house well before sunrise. He admitted that he enjoys the peace and quiet of being out on the water so early in the morning. I'm sure his sentiments are shared by many others, too.

Connecticut is fortunate to have over 180 public lakes and ponds and thousands of miles of rivers and streams teeming with a variety of gamefish and panfish. Anglers from all over the country come to Connecticut to fish for prized trout in the Farmington and Housatonic Rivers. Eleven water bodies in Connecticut have been designated as Trout Parks. Trout Parks are located in easily accessible areas to enhance trout fishing opportunities for everyone.

The DEP Web site adds that anglers should consult their 2013 Angler’s Guide for the current fishing regulations that apply to the waters in which they plan to fish. Trout Parks and the many waters designated as Trout Management Areas, Trophy Trout Streams, Sea-Run Trout Streams, and Wild Trout Management Areas each have special regulations.

The 2013 Angler’s Guide is available at all Town Clerks Offices and at tackle stores selling fishing licenses. Anglers can now purchase their fishing licenses online, too. Both the Angler's Guide and the online licensing system can be accessed on the DEP web site at: www.ct.gov/dep/fishing. Good luck to all the anglers this Saturday.

Paul