Everyone wants to talk weather part 2

[johobbit]

Glad you've had rain, stargazer. We had our first significant rainfall in weeks the weekend of August 13th. 'Tis amazing how the brown, dormant grass greens up quite quickly with that much-needed precipitation.

My heart starts to beat faster with these first signs of autumn. Reading your post, 'gazer, makes me so eager for this favourite-of-all seasons.

Nice, fantasia! Here, too, we are in a big cool-down: it was only 50F this morning, so I could walk again after many weeks of not being able to because of the heat. However, the next few days are warming up again, with showers on Thursday. We're finally on the right side of ol' summer now.

[waggawerewolf27]

I buy local corn from the market and, after brushing it with olive oil, we BBQ/grill it. Oh my, the best!

I really must try corn on the cob that way. Most of the time we brushed it with butter. Or margarine for us oldies with dietary modifications in mind. Alas, we might not get to many BBQ's because of fire restrictions if we have too hot a summer.

We had our first taste of Fall this week. It was 59F outside this morning when I got up. It's going to warm up again over the next couple days and then another round of storms and cooler temps are moving through.

Something similar happened here. We had a couple of weeks of quite pleasant weather, and planning for spring started to enter my head. But a couple of times we have had quite sharp drops in the heat as well. We feel it by 4pm or 5pm. As chilly as an ice-cube down one's back, and we start reaching for the warm jackets again. Last Wednesday was a sharp reminder that winter hasn't given up on us yet, with freezing mornings and evenings and not much warmer at midday. It rained. And rained, easing up finally by yesterday morning (Friday).

[stargazer]

We've had the reverse here, wagga, so to speak. The occasional glorious autumn-like day (low humidity, highs around 65F/18C, and blue skies), like the one we had Thursday to spend at the Minnesota State Fair, still punctuated by late-summer days of heat and humidity and heat indices touching 100F/39C (expected again next week). But the days are shortening rapidly now, with over 2 hours of daylight lost since the solstice in June.

American TV weather fans may be familiar with the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore's excitement over thundersnow (a fairly unusual phenomenon that is fun to experience). Lately I came upon this video of an excited toddler watching Cantore's antics. Very cute.

[johobbit]

Likewise here, wagga. I could pretty much ditto stargazer's first paragraph. Once in a while we have a glorious sneak preview of autumn weather, then end-of-summer days roar back in to douse us with heat and humidity (humidex tomorrow is 95F+), but mid-week much more comfy temperatures (low 70s) are arriving, hurrah and hooray!

We have had regular rain off and on for two weeks now after a very lengthy (2 months) dearth. and showers expected tonight and tomorrow. With days of extreme heat, we have had a few tornado warnings over the past couple of weeks. Very serious damage was done in the Windsor area on Thursday evening, 'though no loss of life, thankfully. and while we had very heavy rain that evening with ominously impressive skies, there was no tornado touchdown in our area (a couple of hours NE of Windsor).

wagga, what is your favourite season?

Cute video, 'gazer.

[waggawerewolf27]

wagga, what is your favourite season?

Probably the autumn, when the temperature cools down and isn't so excessive. Temperatures are about 25-29C, maximum, neither too hot nor too cold. Spring can be delightful, too, especially in September. But often by the October long weekend (Labour Day is first Monday in October), the temperature can climb to well above 30 C. The thought of a boiling hot summer ahead, complete with bushfires, is not something to look forward to. A lot depends though on state of health, since the older one gets the more body parts and systems wear out. I expect in Canada that autumn, with your coloured leaves to look forward to, would really be magnificent. I'll enjoy reading about the forthcoming visit to Canada of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the end of next month, since such newspaper articles usually have lots of photos to accompany what they say and do there.

@stargazer: Thank you for your explanation of dewpoint. Since the Centigrade/Celsius scale of measuring temperature is based on the boiling point of water (100 C) and the freezing point of water (0 C) it becomes easy to see why dewpoint is never more than atmospheric temperature. We'd all really be in trouble worldwide if atmospheric temperature was 100 C.

[fantasia]

After several days of a return to toastiness, storms are moving back into Kansas with several chances for rain over the next three days. I noticed tonight that northwest KS is already getting storms. They will likely be here tomorrow....along with cooler temps.

High of 79F on Saturday which we plan to be at the Kansas State Fair!!

[stargazer]

Sounds like fun, fantasia! The Minnesota version has ended for the season, but we had ideal weather for our attendance there on opening day.

Today was a pleasant late-summer day, with temps around 80F, clear skies, and low humidity. It was a short-lived break from recent rainy hot patterns, and even now thunderstorms are just off to our west. We've had some spectacular thunderstorms of late with big rainfall totals, including one this past weekend that left parts of the campground I was in very wet.

[fantasia]

Boy did we have some INSANE weather at the end of last week. I believe it was Thursday night into Friday morning that we got over 6" at my house. 6"!!!! That would be a new personal record for me as we rarely get rain like that around here and when we do, I'm not usually under it. Just to the south of where I live, they were getting up to 9". The following night we had an additional 2" fall but I was out of town at the time so I missed out on all of the flooding... lucky me.

Saturday and Sunday were near perfect weather. Saturday morning was borderline cool for me, but lots of warm sun and I believe the high that day was 78F. It's warmed up a touch since then but starting tonight we're supposed to get another round of rain over the next few days. Things definitely have not dried out here so if we get a lot of rain again, we could be in big trouble. I don't think they're predicting large amounts though so we'll see what happens.

[stargazer]

So much rain, fantasia! The same sort of pattern is going on here. The 3 months of meteorological summer (June-August) were among the wettest on record here.

More torrential rain fell yesterday afternoon, and my mother and I were caught in the downburst. Soaked through in just seconds.

But winter is never far off - the other morning numerous stations in north central Minnesota reported lows below freezing. It only got down to 47F/8C here in the southern part of the state, but fall is imminent. (Now if those mosquitoes would just get the hint!)

[waggawerewolf27]

So much rain, fantasia! The same sort of pattern is going on here. The 3 months of meteorological summer (June-August) were among the wettest on record here.

It was the same here, for the same period of time. And it has been even wetter this September. The floods from South Australia across to New South Wales, and Queensland to Victoria have destroyed this summer's crops already, though at least the soil is thoroughly rehydrated.

One of our weather people on the News said the rain was due to the Indian Ocean Dipole On Internet, I saw this definition of this phenomenon, which is currently spreading a warmer than usual current on the Western Australian Coastline. "The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as the Indian Niño, is an irregular oscillation of sea-surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer and then colder than the eastern part of the ocean."

[stargazer]

Welcome to fall! (or spring, if you live Down Under).

Our weather still thinks it's summer, though, with unseasonably warm and wet conditions. Huge summer-like thunderstorms blew through overnight, knocking out internet and phone services for much of town. 7-13 inches (175-330mm) of rain fell in just a few hours, so some streets are flooded or washed out and some schools started late or remained closed. Winds of up to 65mph (100 km/hr) knocked over trees weakened by previous rain and saturated soil.

[johobbit]

How come I never tire of reading posts about weather?

Probably the autumn, when the temperature cools down and isn't so excessive.

Hearty ditto here!

Happy Autumn; Happy Spring! I've been waiting for autumn since early summer, lol.

Wow, 'gazer, that's quite the flooding. Stay safe! And at all the abundant rain in wagga's and fantasia's areas!

The 3 months of meteorological summer (June-August) were among the wettest on record here.

As for us, we have had one of the driest summers in years. Thankfully this has reversed through September, and everything is nice 'n green again.

'Though as we head into autumn now, some of the trees are beginning to barely blush colour—so pretty.

Today could well be our last hot and humid day: tonight a cold front rolls in, bringing much cooler temperatures, with lows in the single digits (Celsius). Perfect walking weather!

We need rain again, and our next significant chance is mid next-week. Hoping it comes!

[stargazer]

I'd happily send you some of this moisture, jo, if I could.

The rain has stopped for the moment - though more is predicted tonight - but the water keeps rising as it flows downstream. This is a rather small town but many of the main roads are flooded, so there's a lot of traffic on the remaining streets. Today I saw a sign on the local Godfather's Pizza advertising "Now Serving Lunch Buffet" - but the restaurant is almost under water.

A local newspaper has posted some aerial shots of the flooding (the pizza place is the building near the center of the first picture, "Main Street looking west.")

[stargazer]

The water has receded somewhat, though parts of downtown are still under water. Now begins the task of cleanup for those affected.

Today was a glorious autumn day, with high around 70F/21C, crystal clear blue skies, and more than a hint of color in some trees. Just perfect for a campfire cookout at a nearby state park (parts of which are closed due to the flooding, but the picnic ground was open). Such a nice day...except with the rain and recent heat, the mosquitoes are still plenty active.

[waggawerewolf27]

Wow, stargazer! That looks like a really bad flood. We've had several off and on since winter. And now Forbes, on the Lachlan River, has been flooded, with millions of dollars damage to crops that had been growing nicely until last week. Around Forbes is a river system, where the Lachlan River, which in drought time can be no more than a series of puddles, feeds into the better watered Murrumbidgee, which then flows into the Murray, on the Victorian/New South Wales border. So even when the rain stops the floods still may not have peaked.

I'm just back from a funeral in Canberra where it has been bitingly cold weather, though it didn't snow there as per the linked article. It has been raining of course, and part of the journey home the winds were so strong, it was hard to drive our car forward, and so we were forced to drive more slowly.

[Puddleglum]

where was the flooding stargazer? Thankfully we did not suffer the same here, though a town not far off had some localized flooding a few weeks ago.
As things are drying out I can get about easier looking for agates. There is new road constuction nearby with fresh turned earth as they are laying new storm drains. Since the rain has held off the past few days I have been able to walk about without sinking into the mud so badly.
Funny you should mention fires. The Mrs. and I were just out enjoying a good fire after the mosquitos had tired of looking for us. We had been out earlier with chores, and they were very active.
I would have thought things would be warming up for you wagga. The temps are still relatively comfortable here, but are getting noticably cooler in the evenings.