Yes, the smoke in our local region is from the large wildfires in south Georgia and north Florida. A strong high pressure system aloft is trapping the smoke and haze locally creating poor visibility and air quality. Because the "High" has shifted east a bit, it places our region in direct line of the southeast wind which is transporting the smoke to the Tennessee Valley. We should again see smokey and hazy conditions Friday, with some improvment over the weekend as some hit and miss showers return.
The official start of the 2007 hurricane season is Friday, and the tropics are already a little interesting. A broad region of low pressure off the Yucatan coast is straddling the southern Gulf and northwestern Caribbean Sea. This "low" should drift north into the southern Gulf through Friday. Strong wind shear across the western Gulf should push this low north, then northeast. This means that our region should not see any moisture come our way. But, Florida could really benifit with several inches of rain expected over the weekend as this low moves across the peninsula. As far as any tropical development, it is possible, but it will mainly just be a heavy rain producer for Florida. Should it develop into a tropical storm, the name would be Barry.
Be sure to watch the latest Webcast for a full explanation of how the smoke has moved our way from south Georgia (link)
Don't miss the Blue Moon tonight. It will not be "blue" in color, but it will be the second full moon of the month. The Old Farmer's Almanac definition of a Blue Moon is 2 full moons during a calendar month, which applies to tonight's event. However, an old copy of another type of farmer's almanac from Maine tells a different story of the origin of the Blue Moon. Here is a link to an interesting alternate definition (link). Special thanks to one of our viewers, Henry Kuhlman for sharing this article!
No comments:
Post a Comment