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Photo by Kathy Schriber
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Manchester residents Brooke DeWolf, Lauren Schriber and Ashley DeWolf enjoy a day off from school following a severe winter storm that only dropped 3 inches of snow in Manchester. The hazardous conditions forced several school closures.
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From subzero temperatures, unexpected thunderstorms and a last-minute winter snowstorm last week, weather patterns in most of the state have left local meteorologists puzzled.
"It was a little extreme," said Jack Summers, owner of Riverside Consign and weather forecaster for WeatherUnderground.com.
He cited recent wind gusts as being especially strong, with wind-speeds in the business district reaching 30 mph.
"The highest wind speeds were recorded at 2 a.m. That was the freezing day (Thursday) when it got to zero," he said.
Summers said the data he provides to the weather service from his Web site helps record local weather trends.
"It's really good for predicting," he said, adding that his data provides weather readings for the Manchester area that are more accurate than general forecasts.
Summers said there are thousands of informal weather Web sites like his that provide local weather information across the country.
"On Feb. 14, it will have been exactly one year since we've been reporting weather for Manchester," he said.
On the roof of Riverside Consign, Summers installed equipment that records wind speed, rain fall, barometric pressure, dew point, and temperature. The equipment is registered to the Web site, and provides up-to-the-minute information on weather in Manchester.
"It's in real time," he said, adding that he enjoys looking at weather maps and low and high-pressure readings on the Web site. The Web site also provides information about air quality and pollution. Visitors to the Web site must type in Manchester's 48158 zip code to receive local weather information, he said.
Summers said he has been tracking weather information throughout the year and has discovered some weather highlights from 2007.
"In March 2007, there was an extremely low barometric pressure reading," he said.
The pressure reading was 28.87, which was immediately preceded with 1 1/2 inches of rain the following day. Summers said the correlation points to a relationship between very low pressure and rainfall.
Summers also noted that the summer drought began at the beginning of June, and lasted until the end of August.
"We had no appreciable rainfall during that time," he said.
The last large amount of rain came in March 2007, when 3 inches of rain fell in the area.
"That was the biggest rainfall amount (per month) recorded over the last year, until just the other day," he said.
Summers said recording weather information is one of his hobbies.
"I've been doing it for years, long before I came to Manchester," he said.
Alana West is a freelance reporter for The Manchester Enterprise. She can be reached at mmagwest@sbcglobal.net.
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