STEVE'S "WILD" WORLD OF WEATHER

When I'm wondering about weather folklore and historical events this is the man I go to. With more than 50 years of statistical and observational research, he's the dude! When it comes to lunar cycles, woolly bear caterpillars, insects, bugs, and animals, he tracks them, records them, and establishes ties to weather patterns. Only one person takes climatology to a level like this. He even has a lifetime achievement award from the National Weather Service for his devotion to data and science. His name is Steve Gottschalk by way of Lowden, Iowa. He's a knowledgeable and interesting man. I'm grateful to him for lending his unique perspective to the site. Steve's "wild" world of weather can be found regularly right here on TSwails.com. Take it away Steve!

Our Aprils Were Getting Wetter Until Recently

I thought I would do some research on the state's precipitation trends for the month of April. Using Iowa's precipitation records that goes back to 1873. this is what I found:

From 1873-1899, the monthly average was 2.84".

The 1890's were wetter with 3.38" compared to the 1870's - 2.56" and the 1880's - 2.49".

From 1900-1929 the rainfall was pretty consistent with 2.77". Each following decade saw a little more rainfall until the 1930's with 2.11', the driest decade.

Starting with the 1940's the average gradually increased through the 1970's then fell again in the 1980's.

From 1990-2019 the average went up resulting in the 2010's (2010-2019), being the wettest decade with an average of 3.81".

The first 3 years of the 2020's (2020-2022), has seen a sharp reversal in rainfall. It is the driest first 3 years of a decade with an average of 2.12" since 1900-1902's average of 2.03". It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

Six of our top ten wettest Aprils has occurred since 1964 with our top 5 occurring since 1984. The 5 wettest are as follows:

1st - 2013 - 6.57"

2nd - 1999 - 6.25"

3rd - 2008 - 5.88"

4th - 1991 - 5.78"

5th - 1984 - 5.73"

What is interesting is that 71% of the top ten have occurred during a neutral phase of the ENSO.

Pill Bugs And Their Weather Lore

The pill bugs are around now. I saw my first one on March 31st. They are about 3/8" long, oval shaped and armor plated which curl up like an armadillo when disturbed. The weather folklore states - "When you see pill bugs moving, it will rain soon."

Some Popular April Weather Lore

"Till April's dead, change not a thread," Which means don't be in a hurry to put away your winter clothes, it can still get pretty cold.

"April thunder indicates a good hay and corn crop."

"April snow breeds grass."

"April snow stays no longer than water on a trout's back."

"April borrows 3 days from March and they are ill."

The Birds Knew The Storms Were Coming

Last Friday morning, March 31st the day of Iowa's big tornado outbreak, I noticed that the birds were acting strangely, especially beginning around 9 o'clock. As the day wore on they became agitated, flying around more and very noisy, especially the robins and the blue jays. I have seen that many times before, over the years. It usually meant that we would see some severe weather before the day was over. Just before the storms hit the area around 5:00 p.m., the birds became quiet and disappeared. The same thing happened the day of the Derecho.

Research has shown that thunderstorms and strong winds generate very low-level sound frequencies that birds can detect much sooner than humans, many miles away. Unusual behavior of birds on an unsettled weather day can be a sign of an approaching storm.

There were several tornadoes in Cedar County that did a lot of damage. Here in Lowden we had brief heavy rain, gusty winds and hail ranging in size from pea to marbles for the most part. There were some that were mothball size and the flat disks stones were 1.5" long by 1.0" wide and 0.5" thick. Some of the hailstones had made 3 trips up into the thunderheads. Several persons saw rotation in the clouds as they passed over town and there was some damage to two farms north of town consisting of uprooted trees, down tree limbs and damage to buildings.

The birds were much quieter yesterday, April 4th as we just had garden variety thunderstorms. You may want to keep an eye on the birds the rest of this season?

April Of 1982 Saw Some Extremes

April of 1982 was colder and snowier than usual. The average temperature for the month was 45.3 degrees which was 3.3 degrees below normal The state's average snowfall was 7.5" with Des Moines having the greatest monthly total with 15.6". Some of the heavier area totals were: Tipton -12.5", Anamosa and Lowden - 11.0" and Belle Plaine - 10.0".

T

he month started out very summer-like with Red Oak soaring to 88 degrees on the 2nd but then a strong cold front swept through in the afternoon dropping their temperature 32 degrees in 10 minutes. Likewise Missouri Valley's temperature fell from 85 to 45 degrees in one hour. Thunderstorms developed along the cold front as it moved to the east, changing to snow on the 3rd with blizzard conditions in some areas.

There were substantial snowfalls on the 5th-6th and the 7th-8th. On the 5th, Dubuque received 8.0", Cascade - 7.5", Cedar Rapids, Clinton and Lowden - 7.0". Strong N.E. winds gusting to 40 mph caused considerable blowing and drifting of the snow. Vinton received 6.0" of snow on the 5th and 6.5" on the 8th.

Record cold temperatures followed on the 6th with Waterloo dropping to -4 and Manchester dipped to -9 which would be Iowa's all-time record low for the month of April. I recorded a low of a -3 at my station. Many robins froze to death on account of the cold.

On the 15th-16th, S.W. parts of the state saw very heavy rains with 3' to 4" reported.

That's all for this edition. I would like to wish you all a Happy Easter!! On the wild side of weather, I'm Steve Gottschalk.