As you can see:

In Findlay, a wind gust of 51 mph was recorded just after 3pm.
At the Toledo Express Airport, a wind gust of 47 mph was recorded around 1:30pm.
At the Toledo Executive Airpirt, a wind gust of 46 mph was recorded at 3:30pm.

… To give you an idea of how fast that is, a tropical storm is considered a hurricane when winds reach up to 74+ mph, and a tornado may be considered an EF0 with winds greater than 40mph!

I’d say that’s a windy day for NW Ohio

Additional reports include:

York Elementary, Clyde: 43mph
St. Wendelin, Fostoria: 33mph
St. Joseph School, Sylvania; 40mph
Tiffin Middle School: 32mph
Waters Elementary, Oak Harbor: 38mph

Obviously conditions were a bit less cloudy last year when this picture was taken, but sources tell me that morning temperatures were in the 40s! With over 20,000 racers in 2010, I’m sure all the body heat kept things nice and warm This year conditions will be mostly cloudy with just a slight chance of light scattered showers. While I am expecting the Race to stay dry, I doubt runners would mind a rogue shower anyways. Temperatures will be in the low to mid 50s, reaching 60° by 11pm when things will being wrapping up.

No matter what the forecast, this year’s race is going to be amazing! I’ll be at the starting line cheering everyone on with Jerry Anderson and several other WTOL folks. Hope to see you all there!

For the sake of this blog post, I’m taking into account the entire months of June, July, August, and the first half of September. I know that this is NOT the actual calendar equivalent of the summer season, but it illustrates the seasonal patterns better if done this way.

June. 30 days.

1. 18 days with temps above average (60%)
2. 10 days with temps below average (33.3%)
3. 2 days with temps right at average (6.6%)
4. 6 days with temps 90°+

July. 31 days.

1. 28 days with temps above average (90.3%)
2. 2 days with temps below average (6.45%)
3. 1 day with temps right at average (3.23%)
4. 20 days with temps 90°+

August. 31 days.

1. 21 days with temps above average (67.74%)
2. 5 days with temps below average (16.13%)
3. 5 days with temps right at average (16.13%)
4. 1 day with temps 90°+

September. 21 days. (excluding today — data not yet released.)

1. 7 days with temps above average (33.3%)
2. 12 days with temps below average (57.14%)
3. 2 days with temps right at average (9.52%)
4. 3 days with temps 90°+

Right off the bat, you’ll notice temperatures were above average more often than they were AT average, or below. Except for when we reached September. In the month of June, 60% of the days were above average while July brought temperatures above average 90% of the time! August was no exception with 67% above average. Then as September began to unfold, a new pattern started taking shape. Temperatures fell below average for extended periods of time, and days with temperatures below average have thus far outnumbered those with temperatures above average.

Another thing to notice this summer was monthly precip:

• June + .51” (-3.29 below avg.)
• July + 3.34” (+.54 above avg.)
• August + 3.19” (+.04 above avg.)
• September (so far) + 3.84” (already +1.86 above avg.)

While July was easily the hottest month of the summer, June was the driest. Bringing totals down more than 3” below average, a serious lack of rain in the month of June left folks wondering when the seasonal rain would finally arrive. July provided the answer with rain totals slightly above average for the month, and August followed suit with rainfall amounts nearly dead-on.

Once again, a pattern change took place once calendar pages were flipped to September. Already this month, we’ve seen nearly 4 inches of rain — leaving monthly totals nearly 2 inches above average. The patterns suggest something we’ve all known for a long time now: September is very much a transitional month, allowing summer to end as gracefully as possible and ushering in autumn. It will continue to do so as we finish out the month in just one short week, and say hello to October.

With an average high of 76° for this time of year, yesterday’s high of 60° was downright cold — sixteen degrees below average! Not only that, but overnight cooling went to an extreme as well. Almost breaking the record low of 35° set back in 1966, Thursday night’s low temperature dipped into the upper 30s for the first time since May 5th of this year. That’s a fourteen degree deviation from the average low temperature for this time of year.

Now as we move through the day today, we look as temperatures slowly moving back towards average. With a low of 44° and a forecasted high of 68°, temperatures still have a clear depature from normal — 9 and 8 degrees respectively — but we are moving in the right direction, none the less.

Brace yourselves…. This isn’t the coolest it’s going to get!

After we reach a mild 63° for today’s high, tonight’s temperatures will feel more like mother nature left the freezer door open. Overnight temperatures are going to dip low, low, low into the upper 30s for the first time this year since May 5th. Cinco de Mayo!

A low of 38 degrees is just a touch too warm to see any frost on the ground, but in rural areas, under the right conditions, it just may happen.

Growing up in Buffalo, I remember spending Halloweens in my snowsuit (with my glittery costume stretched over it’s puffiness) and freezing my fingers and toes off on my way to the school bus early in the year, but here in the Greater Toledo Area, on the other end of the lake, I had assumed things would be a bit different.

Beginning with our friends in Williams County, climatologically speaking, the historical average for the first day we should expect to see frost would be October 6th — still over 3 weeks away from today.

Moving South, Lima folks are usually under that first blanket of frost by October 10th, while Bowling Green residents are only a few days behind on October 13th — still nearly a month away!

True to my originl beliefs, the lake does play a big role in freezing conditions — Sandusky and Put-In-Bay don’t experience an official freeze until nearly the beginning of November… BUT contrary to all the facts, it looks like we’re about to get some frost inducing temperatures and freeze worthy weather.

A really interesting Special Weather Statement has been issued by the National Weather Service regarding local funnel clouds being spotted due to these storms.

It says: 

FUNNELS… ASSOCIATED WITH SHOWERS [are] OCCURRING ALONG A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH.
THIS TYPE OF FUNNEL CLOUD IS TYPICALLY SHORT-LIVED AND VERY RARELY
TOUCHES DOWN. THE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS THESE FUNNELS ARE OCCURRING
IN IS NOT SUPPORTIVE OF STRONG…DAMAGING TORNADOES. ON THE RARE
OCCASIONS THAT THE FUNNELS DO TOUCH THE GROUND…LITTLE…IF ANY…
DAMAGE OCCURS.

If you remember, a little less than a month ago (Aug 14th) waterspouts formed under the same conditions and were spotted up in Port Clinton.

It’s incidents like these that really make me marvel at mother nature Something so destructive in one sittuation can just be something fascinating in another.

Have a great weekend!

A brief look at how August unfolded both pleased and surprised me! Only ONE day out of the entire month had a temperature recorded in the 90s! That day was the first of the month, and was followed by a subsequent string of 80s with a few 70s sprinkled in. The average high for the month was 82.8 degrees (right on par!) and the average low was 60.6 degrees.

A quick look at the month’s rainfall reveals a rather steady pattern, aside from our major thunderstorm event on the 24th which dropped nearly 2 inches of rain on us! (In addition to the showers we received August 18th, but the Toledo Express Airport didn’t record much rainfall even though some areas saw upwards of 2-4 inches!).

A total of 3.19 inches of rainfall for the month only deviates from the normal value by .04 inches.

I’d say, overall, August was a great and seasonable month! Now as we move into September, a season change may result in a few wonky days like the ones we have in this upcoming week (96 and 49 in the same 7-day forecast?!).

After a large high pressure system released its grip on our region in the beginning of August (it’s still got a firm hold on areas of Oklahoma and Texas) our temperatures returned to normal like clockwork. Aside from some showers and thunderstorms here and there, i think i can speak for almost everyone when i say this change has provided some much needed relief.

For the rest of this weekend and into the work week, we can expect temperatures below average. At this time of year, our region should be seeing temperatures in the low 80s. For today the forecast has us at 80 degrees exactly and into the day tomorrow, we’re only looking at a high of 78. Overnight tonight will be very cool, especially for areas of Fremont and south of there, with a low in the low to mid 50s! Aside from a little added humidty today, conditions should stay dry. A spare shower or two doesn’t pose much of a threat to our Sunday, and into the work week, things look very pleasant.

While pollen levels are not at their peak, several factors are going into the role allergens are playing this summer. An allergy forecast discussion on pollen.com says: