dave.ofmassdestruction.com

We are only 7 days into June and stuck with this weather? Add to that a dewpoint of 71° F and an Orange code air quality warning. Not a good day for me to even think of going outside.

We were finally coming out of our massive drought – I sure hope we aren’t seeing a trend that plunges us back in.

I don’t know what it is, but I am quite mesmerized by melting chocolate bunnies.

If you take a look at the 6 Week U.S. Drought Monitor (thanks to John Fleck for that link) you will notice that here in central North Carolina we move from Moderate to Extreme drought conditions in very quick order. I could walk outside and take photos of dried up, brown leaves – wilted plants – dead trees – and brown grass but that would just be depressing.

I suppose at the very least all we are suffering from is ugly yards so far but still, this is getting crazy.

Rain is forecasted for tomorrow but considering the last time we saw any is measured in months, I’m not placing bets for it actually happening. I hate to say it, but we sure could use a good ol’ fashioned category one hurricane right now.

Note: I suppose I should make the obvious point that if you view the 6 week drought monitor 6 weeks from the original date of this post… it will have changed. Lets hope for the better.

Update: We got it! Woo! Rain started around 3-ish and is still going at 7-ish. Heavy at times. Now we just need it to continue for about a month.

It was 104° today with a heat index of 112° (meaning it feels like 112°)

Relative humidity was only 46% but the real “feel nasty” numbers are:

The dewpoint is 72° but our low never got there bottoming out at 76°. That means loads of moisture in the air and none of it sticking to the ground overnight.

We are under an air stagnation alert and an a very obvious heat advisory. The ozone readings are high, the particulate matter readings are high.

It sucks out.

One thing folks like me hate to see in the news is a story accompanying weather that includes lines like “ground level ozone concentrations within the region may approach or exceed unhealthy standards”. Of course, I don’t need a story to tell me that.

What I’m trying to say is, its nasty out.

Update: After thinking about this post, I was interested in seeing how July 2007 compared to last July in the Air Quality Index (AQI) statistics. Unfortunately not all of this year’s numbers have been verified for the month of July but I’ll show them both anyway.

July 2006

July 2007

Clearly this year’s July was better than last though we are off to a bad start for August.

For the most part our weather is predictable. Summers are hot as hell and winters are mild. Spring and fall are beautiful. We had a very mild winter this year but this spring has seemed a little unpredictable so far. Case in point, the 5 day forecast above. Upcoming highs: 86, 55, 70

Weird

I’m making some ribs for this evening and I have to say that going outside in 95° F weather and standing over a smoker full of glowing charcoal is not exactly… fun. I am sure, however, that once I bite into the first one all the pain will be forgotten. I certainly don’t make them as tasty as our friends Bryan and Susan can but truth be told, it is hard to make a bad rib. My signature is in using two kinds of paprika, a sharp variety and a sweet variety. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ribs.

I just read this:

Wednesday: Hazy sunshine and quite hot. Highs in the low 100s. An excessive heat warning is in effect today. It will feel like 110+ this afternoon. This is dangerous heat! Do your best to stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day which is from noon to 6pm. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can come on easily in this kind of heat.

The TV weather people put part of it in a red font too. Sure, TV people are always a little over dramatic but, yesterday I had two different asthma attacks from simply going outside to my air conditioned car. All I can say is that I am very tired of hot.