Posted on 08/17/2013 1:10:06 AM PDT by grundle
Atlanta looked set to break a second straight record for a lowest maximum temperature on Friday, capping one of the coolest, wettest summers on record for the usually sweltering city.
If you woke up in Atlanta this supposed summer morning, you might have walked out on the porch, and gone right back in for a sweater.
On Aug. 16, a time of year when average daytime temperatures hover at 88 degrees in the Phoenix City, the mercury had stalled at 64 degrees at 1 p.m., six degrees below the record low for a high temperature, set in 1892, of 70 degrees.
Thursday’s 73-degree reading was also the coolest Aug. 15 ever on record in Atlanta, besting a record low high of 77 degrees in 1908.
In fact, according to the Weather Service’s Mr. Baker, the unusual cold snap is the result of so-called “cold air damming” – in this case, a dome of heavy cold air across New England pushing up, or damming, against the eastern face of the Appalachian Mountains and spilling into the Georgia piedmont along the southern tip of the range.
That blast of chill is then crashing into moist air gliding into the area from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, resulting in heavy cloud cover and a continuous drizzle, creating a bit of an ice chest effect on the ground.
The weather does, however, fit a short-term trend that has seen daytime temperatures in Atlanta, and many parts of the usually sweltering South, remarkably low.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
It was 60 this morning at 6:00 a.m. here in Northeast Texas! Yesterday’s high was about 83. That’s close to 20 degrees below normal for mid-August. We hit 100 degree weather for the first time the first week and a half of August, it’s been in the 80s this week, and is forecast to be no higher than 95 for 2 days next week, then back down to the low 90s. It is truly unheard of for August in Texas!
The article says that the cold air is being dammed by the Appalachian Mountains. Since most environmentalists are against the building and keeping of dams, then we need to get them to start a campaign to level the Appalachian Mountain Dam, thus keeping the cold air from going south.
(this is sarcasm, for those who don’t know how to recognize it)
I also think so. We are entering the peak hurricane season (mid-August thru late September) and not that much has been happening, which may indicate something about ocean temperatures.
I plan on laying in a supply of IceMelt as soon as it comes on sale this fall.
So we peeked 8000 years ago???
No, actually the axial tilt oscillates between about 22 degrees and 24.5 degrees over a period of about 41,000 years. Right now we are close to the middle. That chart depicts about 20,000 years, or half a cycle. Once it reaches 22 degrees, it will swing back up to 24.5.
It is not actually the tilt of the earth in space (as measured by distant stars) that is changing, but plane of the earth’s orbit. We measure axial tilt, “the obliquity of the ecliptic” with respect to the plane of the earth’s orbit.
Oh, well, that’s alright then. You had me worried, for a moment there.
Thanks! Jut sent this to my Yankee daughter who lives in Atlanta.
We are here and loving it. The AC has not kicked on in 2 days.
For two straight years I haven’t had to use the brand new Toro Snoblower my wife got me. The thing is still in the box. Was working like a charm it was. Now it looks like it’s going to have to earn it’s keep.
A girl I knew had a wooden leg. Her name was Peg.
Thank you for the info. Would have been nice if the idjet who wrote the piece had informed us all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.