Sep 2010
This week will finally feel like Fall!
09/27/2010 22:04
Beautiful weather this week... Highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s... and we got a good wetting down this weekend, so I can enjoy this beautiful weather without guilt!!!
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
Today Was Just Not A Good Day...
09/25/2010 19:53
I already knew today was going to be one of those less than stellar Saturdays. It started with a football game at noon!? Come on!!!! Is there anything worse than a noon kick off?
To add to the misery, we had a new record high today of 93 degrees!!! Oh... and this is the 85th day of 2010 that we have hit 90 degrees! Which I think is a record in and of itself. I believe 1980 had just 5 or more days more.
Oh... and we lost the football game... big time... NC State 45 : Ga Tech 28
This is supposed to be the most fantastic time of the year!!! Fall coming on strong with cool refreshing air and fun football!?!
Well... Thankfully things are about to get cooler and a lot more wet in the coming days. We seriously need the rain.... and I am very grateful that it looks like we just may get a good slug of it too!!!
Here is the 5 day total rainfall amounts from HPC:
To add to the misery, we had a new record high today of 93 degrees!!! Oh... and this is the 85th day of 2010 that we have hit 90 degrees! Which I think is a record in and of itself. I believe 1980 had just 5 or more days more.
Oh... and we lost the football game... big time... NC State 45 : Ga Tech 28
This is supposed to be the most fantastic time of the year!!! Fall coming on strong with cool refreshing air and fun football!?!
Well... Thankfully things are about to get cooler and a lot more wet in the coming days. We seriously need the rain.... and I am very grateful that it looks like we just may get a good slug of it too!!!
Here is the 5 day total rainfall amounts from HPC:
Yea!!!! Fall Is Here!!!
09/22/2010 23:06
Grab your eggs and stand them on end! For Fall is here!!!!
P.S. - just kidding on the eggs... google: snopes eggs equinox
P.S. - just kidding on the eggs... google: snopes eggs equinox
Rain!?
09/22/2010 22:15
So...
Interesting things showing in recent model runs... maybe a good dent in this drought coming as soon as Sunday??? Let’s hope so!!!
Interesting things showing in recent model runs... maybe a good dent in this drought coming as soon as Sunday??? Let’s hope so!!!
3D Weather
09/21/2010 13:26
DROUGHT, DREAD, AND DESPAIR
Summer 2010 started off with a fairly rainy June... However July, August, and now September have offered a lot of unwelcome heat and very little rain.
Ufortunately, we are now “officially” in a drought, and one that may last for some time to come.
I HATE SUMMER
Save for those days/evenings when you can watch the clouds grow and lightning flashing from scattered storms, I absolutely HATE summer... of course there hasn’t been many of those storms since June... it has been warmer than usual.... and I’m none too pleased about it being late September with highs in the 90’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Ugh! Summer - Leave already!!!
Winter is almost my favorite season (I love SNOW and other wintery fun), but I don’t like the “cold part” of it. Once it goes below 29, I’m generally “not having it”. Spring is great for all the severe weather excitement, but the beauty of trees budding and flowers starting to bloom is quickly overpowered by the inevitable arrival of my aforementioned most hated time of year.
Thankfully, the death of summer is inevitable, and my favorite time of the year is almost here. September 1st is generally acknowledged to be the start of “meteorological fall” (with the astronomical start/equinox being around the 21st/22nd). However, September in Atlanta is usually a “bonus summer month” (why do I still live in Atlanta?), with this particular September clearly showing it wants nothing to do with fall. But October (my favorite month) is just 10 days away... and with it comes some of the most pleasant weather of the year for Atlanta. I should be excited, right! Well, of course I am... but a little less so this year...
October usually brings cooler temps and wind patterns that finally clear out all that summer pollution/haze, and it is historically the driest month of the year for Atlanta/the southeast (makes for pleasant weather! ). However, October 2010 looks to be warmer than average with below average rainfall. Summer may continue to stay well past its welcome even into October. Warmer than I’d like it, but I’m sure it will still be pleasant for the most part. Of course the wild card is a tropical system. And while I hate to take away any of those beautiful October days, we really need it to happen. More on that in a few...
LA NINA IS EVIL
Southeastern US winters with a strong La Nina generally have warmer than average temps and below average rainfall.
The “good news” is that we shouldn’t have the never-ending cold like this past winter. The “bad news” (at least those that love wintery mischief) is there will be less chance for SNOW.
Of course ENSO (El Nino/La Nina) is just one piece in the chaos of “patterns”. There are also long duration patterns like the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and the AMO (Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation), but these play out of many years and are very hot topics in the “Global Climate Change” debate. For those (like me) that want wintery mischief, we do have some muted hope with Teleconnections that vary over smaller periods of time. The NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and the AO (Arctic Oscillation) have a large impact during the winter for Atlanta/SE. If you want wintery weather during this La Nina, you generally want to see both the AO and NAO in negative territory. (Maybe I’ll try to post something before winter begins that shows this a little more graphically)
Now that I’m done complaining about the grim outlook for wintery precip chances, here is the really is “bad news”. With most of the coming fall & winter expected to be warm, dry, and mostly boring. The drought looks to continue through the winter months and maybe even into the spring. There is also a chance of more severe weather than usual during the winter into the spring. Obviously any rainfall will be good rainfall, but these events aren’t likely to make much of a dent in the drought.
ALREADY DREADING SUMMER 2011?
Droughts and heat waves go “hand in hand”. If the drought worsens and continues on through the spring, there will be less soil moisture to evaporate. This means more of the sun’s energy will be spent heating the barren ground and every object that doesn’t melt, making Atlanta even more like hell. Since the weather is pretty static here during the summer, those afternoon summer storms are mostly driven by moisture in the area. With no soil moisture and no weather systems to bring moisture from elsewhere, there will be little in the way of relief from the heat by scattered storms. Does this sound familiar? It should... only 3 years ago...
Drought : 2007
SUMMER FROM HELL: AUGUST 01-27, 2007
Fortunately, there is nothing now that indicates that the current drought will be anywhere near as bad as 2007.
WE NEED A TROPICAL SYSTEM OR TWO
Obviously the weather can surprise us in unexpected ways, but with the current pattern in place, we are likely stuck with the drought for some time. Our best hope to lessen the impact of the drought is a tropical system. October is already not going to be that perfect month with the warmer temps, so might as well have it be a rainy October too. So I hope we can get one or two weak systems that bring some solid rain (but without flooding).
Summer 2010 started off with a fairly rainy June... However July, August, and now September have offered a lot of unwelcome heat and very little rain.
Ufortunately, we are now “officially” in a drought, and one that may last for some time to come.
I HATE SUMMER
Save for those days/evenings when you can watch the clouds grow and lightning flashing from scattered storms, I absolutely HATE summer... of course there hasn’t been many of those storms since June... it has been warmer than usual.... and I’m none too pleased about it being late September with highs in the 90’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Ugh! Summer - Leave already!!!
Winter is almost my favorite season (I love SNOW and other wintery fun), but I don’t like the “cold part” of it. Once it goes below 29, I’m generally “not having it”. Spring is great for all the severe weather excitement, but the beauty of trees budding and flowers starting to bloom is quickly overpowered by the inevitable arrival of my aforementioned most hated time of year.
Thankfully, the death of summer is inevitable, and my favorite time of the year is almost here. September 1st is generally acknowledged to be the start of “meteorological fall” (with the astronomical start/equinox being around the 21st/22nd). However, September in Atlanta is usually a “bonus summer month” (why do I still live in Atlanta?), with this particular September clearly showing it wants nothing to do with fall. But October (my favorite month) is just 10 days away... and with it comes some of the most pleasant weather of the year for Atlanta. I should be excited, right! Well, of course I am... but a little less so this year...
October usually brings cooler temps and wind patterns that finally clear out all that summer pollution/haze, and it is historically the driest month of the year for Atlanta/the southeast (makes for pleasant weather! ). However, October 2010 looks to be warmer than average with below average rainfall. Summer may continue to stay well past its welcome even into October. Warmer than I’d like it, but I’m sure it will still be pleasant for the most part. Of course the wild card is a tropical system. And while I hate to take away any of those beautiful October days, we really need it to happen. More on that in a few...
LA NINA IS EVIL
Southeastern US winters with a strong La Nina generally have warmer than average temps and below average rainfall.
The “good news” is that we shouldn’t have the never-ending cold like this past winter. The “bad news” (at least those that love wintery mischief) is there will be less chance for SNOW.
Of course ENSO (El Nino/La Nina) is just one piece in the chaos of “patterns”. There are also long duration patterns like the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and the AMO (Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation), but these play out of many years and are very hot topics in the “Global Climate Change” debate. For those (like me) that want wintery mischief, we do have some muted hope with Teleconnections that vary over smaller periods of time. The NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and the AO (Arctic Oscillation) have a large impact during the winter for Atlanta/SE. If you want wintery weather during this La Nina, you generally want to see both the AO and NAO in negative territory. (Maybe I’ll try to post something before winter begins that shows this a little more graphically)
Now that I’m done complaining about the grim outlook for wintery precip chances, here is the really is “bad news”. With most of the coming fall & winter expected to be warm, dry, and mostly boring. The drought looks to continue through the winter months and maybe even into the spring. There is also a chance of more severe weather than usual during the winter into the spring. Obviously any rainfall will be good rainfall, but these events aren’t likely to make much of a dent in the drought.
ALREADY DREADING SUMMER 2011?
Droughts and heat waves go “hand in hand”. If the drought worsens and continues on through the spring, there will be less soil moisture to evaporate. This means more of the sun’s energy will be spent heating the barren ground and every object that doesn’t melt, making Atlanta even more like hell. Since the weather is pretty static here during the summer, those afternoon summer storms are mostly driven by moisture in the area. With no soil moisture and no weather systems to bring moisture from elsewhere, there will be little in the way of relief from the heat by scattered storms. Does this sound familiar? It should... only 3 years ago...
Drought : 2007
SUMMER FROM HELL: AUGUST 01-27, 2007
Fortunately, there is nothing now that indicates that the current drought will be anywhere near as bad as 2007.
WE NEED A TROPICAL SYSTEM OR TWO
Obviously the weather can surprise us in unexpected ways, but with the current pattern in place, we are likely stuck with the drought for some time. Our best hope to lessen the impact of the drought is a tropical system. October is already not going to be that perfect month with the warmer temps, so might as well have it be a rainy October too. So I hope we can get one or two weak systems that bring some solid rain (but without flooding).
wxRadar v1.2 - Update
09/03/2010 19:49
On track for availability at the end of the month (September 2010). Here are a few preview pics:
The older style maps will still be available (via settings)...
The older style maps will still be available (via settings)...