Good Friday, folks. It’s the final weekend of July and it’s kicking off with temperatures getting closer to normal. That trend will take us through the weekend, but changes are already showing up that will try to knock the numbers back down next week.
Let’s begin with today, the 4th straight day to start with temps in the 50s across, at least, some of Kentucky. This is much more anomalous than the heat and humidity we had a week ago, but it won’t get the attention because it doesn’t fit the narrative of some in the local weather world. If it ain’t heat or drought, it just don’t count. I think I may coin the phrase. 🙂 Don’t worry, I’m not going off on a rant… It’s Friday and I have a strict no rant policy on a Friday. 😉
Highs today are in the low to middle 80s with a slight uptick in the humidity. Those numbers climb into the weekend as a slight chance for a shower or storm gets into the mix.
There’s a much better chance for showers and storms early next week as a slow-moving system works in here. That will be accompanied by another round of cooler than normal through the start of August. Here’s the GFS…
After a bit of a rebound, the model sees another shot of cool behind that…
The GFS Ensembles have been all over this of late and continue to trend in the same direction. Here’s the average temperature departure for the first 10 days of August…
Have a fantastic Friday and take care.
Not too bad of a forecast….I’ll take it!
Me too Russell
I’m 47, and can recall some very hot summers from the 80’s. On many days we flirted with 100 degrees, and this was air temperature, not factoring in dew points. We called those instances heat waves and realized that cooler weather was only a month or two away. The last two weeks, while hot, is fairly typical of Kentucky summers. Yet the media and some in the NWS would have us believing this is an extinction level event.
In 1988, that’s the one I remember well, we were experiencing a true drought. In Louisville, we saw July temperatures exceed 100 degrees 4 days. When you actually look at the numbers, say, the daily average temperature (daytime high and nightly low temperatures / 2), a typical July day would be 90 for a high and 70 for the low for an average of 80 degrees. The longest stretch of days that exceeded that average of 80 degrees was 7 days, then later in the month a stretch of 6 days. True, the daytime highs were hot, but we’re generally offset by ‘comfortable’ mornings along with refreshing shots of cooler air.
July 2019, in Louisville, we saw the first 21 days of this month exceed 80 degrees for the average daily temperature. That cumulative effect with no relief from July’s typical heat AND oppressive humidity for nearly all of those days has so far made this July hotter and more miserable than 1988’s version.
The 1988 drought was the worse since the 1930’s. The Weather Channel ( better back then than now) had a drought symposium for a week and I was watering my nursery to keep it alive !
I remember hot Summers from the 50’s. As for the NWS they are part of that faction of getting their Global Warming Agenda through. It’s all about power and politics and I’m getting tried of hearing about it.
Joining you on this ‘rantless’ Friday, the same could be said of those nice days we have in the so-called season of winter and it’s now popular sidekick, Polar Vortex. If it ain’t snow and cold, what else is there to be told?
Jeff, show me the post so I may apologize to Meteorologist Chris Bailey if what you said is true. I want to get this all cleared up so we can go forward with the weather chat. I will check back later. Thanks in advance.
I read on NOAA this morning that in August the Arctic Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation were both going negative around mid- month. If this forecast pans out we may have a colder Autumn and Winter. Maybe the Suns solar output is going weaker earlier than I expected. Hope this pans out because I couldn’t take a Winter like the last couple of years with cold rains.
Good point Schroeder, I my self appreciates some of the facts you give out. Hope it stays negative to a have a true winter.
Thank you Winterlover I enjoy reading your comments too on what goes on with the weather in Western Kentucky. Lets all hope for a snowy winter for a change. Also, this surprised me when I saw that cold front and the cold dry air aloft go all the way to the Gulf of Mexico the other day. In July 1976 the TV Meteorologist in Evansville, Indiana pointed this out ” the cold fronts are moving further south than usual” his exact words. I know you remember that Fall and Winter in Western Kentucky.
Yes I do indeed Schroeder, not had them type of winters since then.
I am surprised we haven’t heard from Jimbo this week! I know he is a winter only guy, but this type of air m*a*s*s for July should be right up his alley:)
It is a bit muggy in SE KY today but still feels more like late May or September with dewpoints in the low 60s and temps at 83 right now.
About the same here too Terry.
Who could forget 1999 here? I think it was 1999 or possibly ’98, but I think ’99. I remember driving home from work one night at almost midnight and the bank thermometer still was in the 90s. Also, I remember I was on new circle road and noticed the moon was super RED and crazy looking. It had been 100+ that day and a few other days or at least flirting with 100 for days each day. There was also a major drought enough so that there were water restrictions. At that point, I had only lived here around 3 years and hadn’t experienced heat that intense before.
Yeah, I remember 1999 as a bad fire season too in SE KY.
Also, 2007 and of course 2012 were wicked summers and hot until October both years!
Chris you are right! Fall-like air has been BREAKING RECORD LOWS from the early 1900s in parts of southern US – and THIS is NOT being reported by the mainstream media who are now concentrating on the heatwave in Western Europe, but IGNORING record LOW temps in Eastern Europe, with SNOW in the forecast for Russia next week!
Tony Heller explains it quite succinctly!
Actually, I saw 2 different reports on the potential record lows earlier this week on 2 different mainstream media outlets.