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My Blog: 2010 in Review

Happy New Year. Thanks everyone for viewing my blog on the climate and weather of Illinois. Here are some statistics that the folks at wordpress.com sent me.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
Healthy blog!
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2010. That’s about 26 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 65 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 107 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 10mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was September 19th with 295 views. The most popular post that day was July – Warmer and Wetter than Normal.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were isws.illinois.edu, mail.yahoo.com, search.aol.com, http:///, and tips-tools-tutorials.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for soil temperature illinois, fall colors 2010 illinois, illinois soil temperature, cooling degree days, and la nina illinois.

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Tornado Tally for 2010 in Illinois

Based on data from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, there have been 46 tornado reports in Illinois in 2010, as of September 14. These reports are based on damage at a particular site. The real number of tornadoes is often less than the first reports, as further analysis may show that the same tornado produced damage in two or more locations.
Most of the tornado activity for 2010 occurred in June with 39 reports (figure below). Many of those occurred in tornado outbreaks on June 5 (SPC report) and 21 (SPC report).
Of course, the 2010 tornado season is not over yet. The climatology of tornadoes in Illinois shows that it is possible to have tornado activity somewhere in the state all the way through December.

Illinois tornadoes 2010
Number of reported tornadoes in Illinois in 2010, as of September 14. Data courtesy of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.

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Areas of Dryness in Illinois in July

While much attention has been given to the areas of heavy rain in Illinois, there were two areas of significant dryness in the state in July. A product from the NWS that combines radar estimates and rain gauge measurements better defined those areas. See figure below.
One area of dryness in July was across north-central Illinois. Amounts in this area were only 25-75 percent of normal. Fortunately, this area received ample rain in June. Even so, the drying of the topsoil is clear in the August 2 USDA NASS Illinois Weather and Crops report.
The other area of dryness in July was in southern Illinois, south of I-64. This area was dry in June as well. As a result of two consecutive months of dry weather, the U.S. Drought Monitor designated this area as “abnormally dry.”
Here is the link to the NWS product: http://water.weather.gov/precip/