Rain rain please go away
Most folks in Southwestern Pennsylvania would agree that this has been a wet year. In Pittsburgh, the national Weather Service has reported rainfall some 9 inches above normal for our area.
Average rainfall rates for most of the area are averaging between 6 and 10 inches above average. Almost daily we see the pictures of submerged cars and flash flooding. Entire towns have been flooded and, in some cases, lives lost. With all the hills in our region, no area can withstand several inches of rain in a short period of time and this is what has been occurring almost constantly.
The daily totals in many of places in Pennsylvania and New York have been outstanding, 5 to 8 inches of rain in just a couple of hours. This is happening because of the abundance of moisture that is available from very slow moving upper level storm systems that have stalled over our area for several months. Many of these storm cells are of the convective variety. They form very quickly, move very slowly and die out or dissipate in the evening after they drop torrents of rain and bring flash flooding after overwhelming storm drains.
Much of this activity has occurred over the Middle Atlantic region this year, and in addition to the flooding, has also caused traffic nightmares with closed roads and airport delays. Remember not to try and drive through flooded roads as water can rise several feet in just minutes. As they say 鈥渄on鈥檛 drown, turn around.鈥�
In contrast, the situation out west, is the the lack of rain. Fires in our western states have been burning for months with lives lost, thousands of homes destroyed and millions of acres burned. Each year, we see both floods and wildfires, but it all seems to be getting worse. With a warmer atmosphere there is more energy to fuel more storms, even the ones that only bring short bursts of rain to small areas. In the west, the added heat adds to the dry conditions also making the wildfires worse. I simply cannot imagine living in an area watching fires roar up hillsides consuming everything in their path. For the most part, the wildfire season looks to continue for the foreseeable future.
The only good news this year weather wise is that the Atlantic Ocean is just a bit cooler than last year. Perhaps this will lead to less hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin. So far the cooler water has kept a lid on the activity and after last year蘑菇视频 devastating storms, this is welcome news although the hurricane season is just hitting its peak, which will run from now until November.
Hurricane activity is taking place in the Pacific with three active storms in progress. Currently, there are no tropical storm warnings or advisories for the Southeast coast.
With all the rain of the past 30 days in our area, we have only experienced one day with 90 degree weather. On August 6, the temperature just nudged 90 degrees. It has been on the humid side with dew-point temperatures frequently in the upper 60s and occasionally at 70 or better. For most folks, dew points above 65 degrees are uncomfortable and above 70 unbearable. Enjoy your summer. School starts in a few weeks.