WHEN: August 2011
WHERE: North Charleston, South Carolina
Written August 9, 2011
You know what a "heat index" is. Given we are in the middle of the dog days of summer, heat indices have been in the news for a while now and have probably affected some of your summer plans. For Stacie and I, the heat index has kept us off our bikes for most of the summer and forced Stacie to run (I bike along side) near or after sunset. The past week has been the most intense of this (already abnormally hot) summer so far.
See current heat indices across the US, here.
Additional heat index maps can be obtained from the National Weather Service, here.
The heat index reaches its highest point sometime each day (usually in the early afternoon or early evening) when temperatures are the warmest and the dew point is high. I'll call the highest heat index per day the "daily observed peak heat index" ("DOPHI" for short - because I'm a temperature nerd). But the point I'm making is that the average DOPHI at Charleston Air Force Base for the past 7 days (August 3-9) was 109.9°F (and 114.1°F for downtown Charleston)! The heat index reached or exceeded 105°F each of those seven days. For the past 3 weeks (21 days), the average DOPHI was 106.0°F. And conditions have been even more toasty in downtown Charleston (closer to the water), where temperatures are usually a couple degrees cooler but the the humidity is higher.
Written August 14, 2011
And with all that heat and humidity comes instability in the atmosphere...rain and thunderstorms! There have been some intense thunderstorms this week, due to all the instability in the atmosphere.
This was the wall of instability that rolled over our house on August 9. It was like someone was pulling an enormous quilt over our neighborhood, bringing gusty winds, falling temperatures, and eventually rain and thunder.
This was the larger picture of what was going on. Our house is the red pin in the upper right. As you can see, this was a very large and powerful system, stretching down to Florida and at least back westward to Mississippi.
These are infrared satellite images on August 6 (left) and August 9 (right). Dark reds and pinks are more often associated with tropical cyclones or systems that spawn tornadoes.
We got our largest rainfall of the month yesterday, with 2.83" measured at the airport and 3.76" measured at a station closer to our house. And that was all after receiving 2 inches the day before.
This was a picture I took of the sky tonight at the grocery store, after we got some more rain.
Meanwhile, I've been listening to Christmas music this past week. I always seem to do this every summer at some point. I've been listening even as I've put this post together.
This was a video I took at our house last week of an afternoon thunderstorm. The thunder never seemed to let up, as you can hear in this video.
Written February 2, 2012
Don't even get me started on the ridiculousness and non-story that is Punxatawney Phil. And just to spite the tradition, I am skipping over spring altogether and instead talking about summer, as I purposely ignore what some mammalian, underground rodent has to "say" about his shadow (on a cloudy day in Pennsylvania).
[end minor soapbox rant]
I thought I'd add a little 20/20 hindsight to last summer's record heat, and relate it to the content above.
Daily weather conditions at Charleston AFB (June-August 2011)
During this period, there were 23 days with a heat index at or above 105°, 6 days at or above 110°, and 0 days at or above 115°. The highest 7-day average was 109.9°F (August 3-9).
Leading the way with 113° (August 5)!
These are US lows on August 4
A new all-time record high-low (83°F) was set at the Charleston AFB on August 4.
A new all-time record high-low (83°F) was set at the Charleston AFB on August 4.
Daily weather conditions at the College of Charleston (June-August 2011)
During this period, there were 24 days with a heat index at or above 105°, 13 days at or above 110°, and 6 days at or above 115°. The highest 7-day average was 114.1°F (August 3-9).
The average low for August 2011 (at the College of Charleston) was 77.3°F.
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