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We've had a hugely wet couple of days in New Zealand: a low pressure system that went southwards, bringing heavy rain, was followed by a band of rain that went northwards up the country, adding to the buildup of clogged land, flooded streets and water-invaded houses. https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/95005138
My street is quite low at each end, so we had deepish surface flooding yesterday morning and again overnight (only on the road as houses are a bit higher). Today I had to get out to help at a children's theatre show, so my only solution was to drive along the footpath [sidewalk] round to the higher part of the street, to get out. When I arrived I parked along the river as usual, but later on moved it as the river has been bursting its banks! When the show was over, I drove home and found the water was too deep on my street - so my car is parked a small block away, I had to wade in my gumboots to get to the house.
The good news is that it should ease overnight, and tomorrow morning we can expect to see sunshine!

After a July in which there were precisely two showers of rain, the second one, somewhat heavier, August continues the dryness, sunny of a daytime with average maximums of 20C, and freezing nights, often as low as 6C. It is snowing in the Snowy Mountains, though, with quite heavy snowfalls, and the wind coming from that area (Charlotte Pass, Thredbo, Smiggins Holes etc.) cuts like a knife of ice. In fact it isn't just snowing Down South, it has been blizzarding Down South. Skiers of the world can rejoice!

How's things Up North? Nice and balmy, one would hope, as Summer draws to an end.

Ooh, snow!

Our seasonably warm and humid weather has been replaced the past few days by much cooler and drier air. There was almost a feel of autumn in the air this evening! The 'nation's icebox,' International Falls, has had lows around 42F/6C of late.

The Pacific Northwest, on the other hand, has been unseasonably hot, with highs exceeding 95F/35C in Seattle and Portland. That's not high by some standards, but is unusual for them. Many houses (including my brother's) do not have any form of air conditioning so it's a bit toasty.

That, 'gazer, is because Washington state has sent all their smoke to us, instead of sending it south. Which is actually welcome--five to ten degrees cooler at this time of year is really a boon. Night temperatures have been dropping to 20 C, very unusual.

Mind you, we have smoke enough of our own. Fire season started early this year, and shows no sign of ending any time soon. Rain, where are you? A little bit of that blizzard would be most useful just now, wagga.

Stargazer wrote:The Pacific Northwest, on the other hand, has been unseasonably hot, with highs exceeding 95F/35C in Seattle and Portland. That's not high by some standards, but is unusual for them. Many houses (including my brother's) do not have any form of air conditioning so it's a bit toasty.

I can imagine. Seattle and Portland are quite far up on the North American coast, and surely about the same distance from the Equator as Melbourne, well south of here, about 40 degrees latitude, off hand. Which Pacific Ocean phenomenon usually causes such temperatures there? La Nina or El Nino?

aileth wrote:Mind you, we have smoke enough of our own. Fire season started early this year, and shows no sign of ending any time soon. Rain, where are you? A little bit of that blizzard would be most useful just now, wagga.

Actually we wouldn't mind the rain, ourselves, a good eight hours or more further up the Great Dividing Range, especially here. Canberra, in its own separate jurisdiction of Australian Capital Territory, is roughly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne, due to rivalry between the two, and it takes at least 3 or 4 hours to get there from Sydney, and then only if the roads are clear.

Good point about the smoke, aileth, though shortly after posting my comments I heard a news report that the wildfire smoke was actually helping keep the temps down in Seattle and Portland.

That smoke hasn't made its way here yet but I know from the past that it tends to block both sunlight and starlight, making the sky a dull color rather than its usual blue.

wagga, Seattle is at about 47.5 degrees north latitude. I'm not sure if it's an oceanic phenomenon giving it this heat; the weather people talk about a large northward bulge in the jet stream allowing the heat from the desert Southwest to bubble all the way up into southwest Canada. The same bulge sags southerly over the US Midwest or Ohio Valley, which means it has been comfortably cool (for August) here, with highs barely cracking 80F/27C lately.

It seems Seattle in the north, in Southern Hemisphere terms, would be about the same latitudes south as Kergulen and Macquarie Islands. Bleak little places more noted for wildlife and scientists than residents.

So far the weather remains exceedingly dry. As a precaution, and in anticipation of a very hot summer, a lot of backburning and clearing of undergrowth has been undertaken. The weather, therefore, has had poor air quality due to smokiness.

Yup, I'm pretty sure you've stolen all our rain this summer, jo. We've been nearly two months without. Which is kind of ironic, seeing that we had an extraordinary amount of precipitation in the spring, with a significant amount of flooding. Oh well, feast or famine!

I cannot get over the near perfect weather we had this past week during the moot. In Missouri, it was admittedly a bit too humid, and we weren't terribly comfortable, but thankfully it was only in the 80Fs. Meanwhile it KS it's been in the 80Fs with no humidity and a light breeze the whole time. Stargazer and I were reminescing when everyone was here in 2011 and we hit 111F with a fairly high dew point. Horrible, horrible weather. This was SOOO much better.
Cymru (for those who remember her) posted on her FB page the other day that this is the best August weather in her whole life and I concur.
Here's hoping this weather holds for the Kansas State Fair coming up in a couple weeks.

Eclipse day was the most uncomfortable day in the past week...and it was in Missouri - and even then it wasn't blazing hot, just pretty humid.

The Kansas weather was quite pleasant.

We're in need of some rain...ironic considering how much Texas and Louisiana have received.
Rain aside, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here, especially for August! It feels like Fall, which is weird because it usually doesn't until halfway into the season.

We camped in north-central Minnesota this weekend, and the weather varied from quite pleasant at night to warm and humid by day (especially when hiking in the woods where the wind can't penetrate).

The sky recently has been a dull whitish color with the sun and moon both dimmed and few stars visible at night. This is apparently from wildfire smoke blowing in from central Canada. Sunsets the past few nights have been spectacular, with the sun a deep, vivid red color. Northwest winds blew up last night, pushing all that away for now. Nice to see blue skies again!

fantasia_kitty wrote:We're in need of some rain...ironic considering how much Texas and Louisiana have received.
Rain aside, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here, especially for August! It feels like Fall, which is weird because it usually doesn't until halfway into the season.

Sounds dreadfully as if you were in Oz, not Kansas. Winter was exceedingly dry, and there hasn't been any rain at all for about a month. I've tried everything to make it rain, bar washing our car. But meanwhile there are high winds and even blizzards Down South in the Snowy Mountains. On the surface our daytime temperatures are warm but since Wattle Day (1st Sept), we get minimums of 1-5 degrees Celsius. And everytime I start thinking about putting away jumpers, cardigans etc, I find myself digging them out again.

I do feel for Texas and Louisiana, in particular. I hoped that at least the hurricane might not be as intense by the time it got there. Last time there was so much devastation was when our news covered Hurricane Katrina, which flattened New Orleans.

The weather forecast here (Manchester, England) is Rain - for at least the next five days. It's an area with a good rainfall, and this is not a surprise. I will just be remembering to take my umbrella and waterproof jacket when I go out.

The weather for the past week or so here has been glorious...highs around 65F/18C with refreshing evening lows around 50F/10C. Lots of sunshine and starlight. The low the other night was 37F/2C, just another reminder that winter is never far away here.

And with that, the possible snow season begins in 7 days.