The weather pattern has not changed since my last post (September blowtorch) so I haven’t felt compelled to comment. However, with September now in the books as one of the top 15 warmest on record in many locations in the Mid-South (including 3rd warmest in Louisville), it is time to look forward to October. Continue reading
As I mentioned a few days ago here, the heat (if not the humidity) of summer will return after our weekend cooldown. Who to blame? You can actually blame the same Canadian high that will cool us down this weekend. Continue reading
While the Wednesday – Sunday period will feature comfortable afternoons with chilly mornings (some places may drop into the 40s) this snap of seasonable weather will be short-lived. The models show summer-like warmth and humidity building back into the Mid-South starting next week. This warm and dry pattern should continue through the end of September.
I first mentioned the possibility of La Nina developing back in February (La Nina and the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season) and now the Climate Prediction Center has stated that La Nina is indeed developing in their latest ENSO diagnostic discussion (this is a must read for anyone interested in Meteorology – don’t worry if you don’t understand all of it, you will learn this stuff over time). What does this mean for our drought situation? Continue reading
A week ago I wrote that the Thursday – Tuesday period (9/6 – 9/10) should have an increased rain chance due to a flow of deep moisture from the Gulf. The forecast reasoning was sound but the persistent extratropical low that may be transitioning into a tropical depression has pushed the best chance for rain for the Mid-South back a few days. Continue reading
I know that a lot of people around the Mid-South are probably thinking that the extreme heat of August 2007 was caused by global warming or that it is a “sign” of some sort from Mother Nature. This is nonsense. Just a few short years ago August 2004 was the 4th coldest August since 1896 and was as freakishly cool as August 2007 was freakishly hot. And don’t forget about the cool and wet June 2003 (6th coolest June with nine inches of rain). Continue reading
For those of you interested in working some day for the NWS, I have created a page found here that describes how to apply for a job with the NWS.
Last week the Climate Prediction Center was predicting that the last few days of August/first few days of September would be cooler than normal (normal is High 85/Low 63) for the Mid-South. As we now approach the time period that was predicted to be cooler than normal, it is clear that the models are consistently underestimating the scope of this historic hot/dry August, as predicted temperatures over the next few days have highs near 90 with lows in the upper 60s. Continue reading
Both Bowling Green and Nashville had streaks of consecutive days with high temperatures greather than or equal to 95 F snapped on Sunday. Bowling Green had a streak of 22 days of 95+ (second all-time to the 23 day streak in 1894) while Nashville had a record streak of 24 days of 95+ (previous record was 19 in 1952).
The U.S. Drought Monitor has officially moved nearly all of Kentucky into the category of extreme drought (this is a drought with a historical frequency of once every 20-30 years) while large parts of Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia are in an exceptional drought (once every 50 years or greater). View the difference between this week’s rankings and last week’s rankings.
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