Penn's questions

Willi writes:
I MIGHT be wrong, but I believe that May
is a rainy time of year. The year I went, it literally rained every day

Willi was present for the worst year for heavy rain in nearly 20 years. May is
NOT, I repeat, NOT a typically raining month in PA(April often is, though). I
can remember several seasons with NO significant rain in May.
Tom

Tom Littleton wrote:
Willi writes:

I MIGHT be wrong, but I believe that May
is a rainy time of year. The year I went, it literally rained every day


Willi was present for the worst year for heavy rain in nearly 20 years. May is
NOT, I repeat, NOT a typically raining month in PA(April often is, though). I
can remember several seasons with NO significant rain in May.
Tom


I know I got a distorted perspective when I was there, but according to
the weather station at State College, May is the wettest month of the year.

http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/...7+2200+368449C

Willi

Willi was present for the worst year for heavy rain in nearly 20 years.

True, that was exceptional. Not sure of the dates of the Clave that
year, but it rained 5.92 inches in May and 9.0 (!) inches in June.

May is NOT, I repeat, NOT a typically raining month in PA(April often is, though).

According to the data published daily in the CDT (local paper) by
AccuWeather, the 30-year average rainfall for the month of May is 3.70
inches.

Average for April, 3.16 inches. June, 4.28 inches.

Large standard deviations, of course.

As long as I'm looking stuff up, average high temps for the second
half of May rise from 69 to 73, F; average overnight lows, 48 to 53.

All those numbers are for State College, about 30 miles WSW of Coburn.
In this kind of mountainous terrain, both rainfall and temps can vary
a lot over relatively short distances.

vince

vincent p. norris wrote:


All those numbers are for State College, about 30 miles WSW of Coburn.
In this kind of mountainous terrain, both rainfall and temps can vary
a lot over relatively short distances.


vince - i think of those long ridges around penns and state college as
"hills", compared to western nc mountains. what is the highest elevation
in the area of penns and state college? isn't penns at coburn at about
900-1000 feet elevation?

jeff

In article BwbMb.71108$hf1.20153@lakeread06, Jeff Miller
wrote:

vincent p. norris wrote:


All those numbers are for State College, about 30 miles WSW of Coburn.
In this kind of mountainous terrain, both rainfall and temps can vary
a lot over relatively short distances.


vince - i think of those long ridges around penns and state college as
"hills", compared to western nc mountains. what is the highest elevation
in the area of penns and state college? isn't penns at coburn at about
900-1000 feet elevation?

jeff

A glance at topozone.com shows Coburn at 1020 feet and those ridges
around topping out about 1550 feet. It's not the height but the
steepness, at least that's what I tell myself as I lay sucking in pine
needles trying to catch my breath.

Allen

Allen Epps wrote:


A glance at topozone.com shows Coburn at 1020 feet and those ridges
around topping out about 1550 feet. It's not the height but the
steepness, at least that's what I tell myself as I lay sucking in pine
needles trying to catch my breath.



i was interested in vince's statement that seemed to imply weather and
temps were related to changes or variety of elevation around penns. i
didn't remember the exact elevations around penns, but i didn't think
there was enough to really be a major factor. but, i'm sure a 500 foot
change would have some effects. still, i've been fishing at the base of
grandfather mountain (around 2500 feet) and then gone up to the summit
(about 6000 feet), and there was a patent weather change.

jeff

vince - i think of those long ridges around penns and state college as
"hills", compared to western nc mountains. what is the highest elevation
in the area of penns and state college? isn't penns at coburn at about
900-1000 feet elevation?

You're right, Jeff. The highest point in PA is Mt. Davis, only about
3,200 feet, and it's far to the SW of this area.

I've been to western NC so I know you have peaks more than twice that
high.

UNV, State College Airport, is 1250 feet above mean sea level. Most
ridge-tops around here reach 2200 to 2400 feet, so there's about a
thousand-foot rise from the valleys.

Allen Epps wrote:

A glance at topozone.com shows Coburn at 1020 feet and those ridges
around topping out about 1550 feet. It's not the height but the
steepness, at least that's what I tell myself as I lay sucking in pine
needles trying to catch my breath.

i was interested in vince's statement that seemed to imply weather and
temps were related to changes or variety of elevation around penns.

Rising air is cooled because it's subject to less pressure and thus
expands (like the air coming out of the valve of your tire); cooler
air can hold less moisture, so the rising causes clouds and precip.

You can see this dramatiocally if you drive over Trail Ridge Road in
RMNP. The east slope is brown, the west slope is green.

Here, we get "Lake Effect" precip. Air moving across Lake Erie (elev.
about 600 feet) picks up moisture, then drops it as it rises over
these mountains, puny though they be. We also get the worst icing
conditions for flying in the U.S., for the same reason.

still, i've been fishing at the base of grandfather mountain (around 2500 feet)
and then gone up to the summit (about 6000 feet), and there was a patent weather change.

I seem to recall reading, years ago, that a thousand-foot change in
altitude is equivalent to a thousand-mile change in latitude. Seems
hard to believe, until you recall that Mt. Kilimanjaro, which sits on
the equator, always has snow on top.

vince

In article , vincent p.
norris wrote:



Here, we get "Lake Effect" precip. Air moving across Lake Erie (elev.
about 600 feet) picks up moisture, then drops it as it rises over
these mountains, puny though they be. We also get the worst icing
conditions for flying in the U.S., for the same reason.

I always thought the worst icing in the US was the North Cascades in
Wash State although it's for the same reason, warmish water in Puget
Sound, Straits of Juan De Fuca and the Pacific hit the Cascades and the
moisture is sent up over the 10,000 peaks. I know that's where they
tested the Concorde for icing. Of the four times I've declared an
emergency to ATC two of them were icing where they kept trying to hold
us in ice and the Prowler does not have any airframe deice so it turns
into a falling safe quickly.

You guys play nice for the wek, I'm off to Charleston for business then
a stop on the way back in NC to quail hunt with a buddy.

Allen
Catonsville, MD

Several seasons out of how many????

john roughly, my personal statistics to date show a 30% chance of being
dry...


"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...
Willi writes:
I MIGHT be wrong, but I believe that May
is a rainy time of year. The year I went, it literally rained every day

Willi was present for the worst year for heavy rain in nearly 20 years.
May is
NOT, I repeat, NOT a typically raining month in PA(April often is,
though). I
can remember several seasons with NO significant rain in May.
Tom

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...
Willi writes:
I MIGHT be wrong, but I believe that May
is a rainy time of year. The year I went, it literally rained every day

Willi was present for the worst year for heavy rain in nearly 20 years.
May is
NOT, I repeat, NOT a typically raining month in PA(April often is,
though). I
can remember several seasons with NO significant rain in May.
Tom

May is the transition month from Spring to Summer in PA, much like October
can be from Summer to Fall. As Tom stated it can really vary. It can be
the wettest month of the year, and I've also seen it 80 degrees and dry
(although PA will never live up to "Colorado Dry"). I would say that it
tends to be in the 60's most days, with temps spiking to the 70s if the Sun
stays out for a while. We've seen 50s-60s the last few years, but I don't
believe that is the norm. Layers, Layers, Layers, with some sort of raingear
is the way to go. With that Swedish blood you should be able get by with a
few less layers.

I use to say that regardless of the weather you can always find fish
somewhere close by but I'm not sure I want to claim that anymore after
watching 40 ROFFians scramble into the "mountains" (excuse me Jeff) looking
for small native Brookies and Brownies (although rumor has it we did pry a
few out from under the rocks). If you really want to see dry weather, plan
your trip for the week before, or week after the Clave.

The Finn