Spring 2015 thread (Northern Hemisphere) (Tampa Bay, hot, record, days)
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Yeah, I remember that dreadful month all too well. All those lows in the 80's and maxing out at 98 degrees - oh man. It was very difficult to keep the house below 80 degrees since the AC couldn't keep up. I was convinced that global warming was running out of control, and it was the start of doomsday.
That notion was reinforced when we went up to north Florida to visit my friend's mom for the 4th of July. That was when the huge fires were going - does anybody on here recall those? Driving up from Orlando, the entire northern part of the sky was dominated by a massive wall of smoke - with I-95 shut down, we had to take back roads to Palatka (our destination.) Figuring if the road was open, that it would be safe, we didn't turn back, but pressed onward - right into the heart of the fire zone. Man, that smoke was NASTY. It was very difficult to see, and and air started getting bad inside the car, even with the AC on recirc. We actually passed through a section where actual flames were burning along the side of the road, licking at the tires of my Rodeo. Scary? Oh yeah. Afterwards, everybody said we were fools to keep going. Oh well.
We got to Palatka, which was safe from the fires, but was covered in smoke, and jammed-packed with evacuees from the fire zones. Total doomsday-type atmosphere. That evening, however, the skies opened up and rain came down, torrential rains which stopped the spread of the fires. If it wasn't for the rains that day, there is little doubt that the fires would have burned clear across the state - it was that bad. I think at the peak, they had firefighters from 47 (!) different states fighting those fires.
I think this experience is the main reason I desperately wish to live in a cool, WET climate, one where drought is extremely rare. Extreme heat wave + drought + fires is a combination I NEVER want to see again. For this reason, I've ruled out upper Michigan as a relocation choice, due to the history of drought and fires in that reason. Can't take the chance.
I think this experience is the main reason I desperately wish to live in a cool, WET climate, one where drought is extremely rare. Extreme heat wave + drought + fires is a combination I NEVER want to see again. For this reason, I've ruled out upper Michigan as a relocation choice, due to the history of drought and fires in that reason. Can't take the chance.
Link says moderate drought conditions is making the heat worse.
I read a nice report once that showed and explained how dry conditions helps and makes temps hotter. Pretty interesting. Not going by days worth. more like weeks and months worth. Ground has to be really dried out and of course pattern favor a south/SW flow.
We're getting lucky up here. Something tells me the Mid Atlantic would be torching and we would be well above normal if these troughs weren't keeping that SE Ridge squashed.
Look at current. Miami 92° 1pm. North Carolina in the 60s. Trough is backwards pushing in westward but still sending a north flow down. Mini SE Ridge not strong enough to push north yet.
Negative NAO/Blocking preventing that ULL from leaving Maine which is keeping troughiness in NorthEast
That notion was reinforced when we went up to north Florida to visit my friend's mom for the 4th of July. That was when the huge fires were going - does anybody on here recall those? Driving up from Orlando, the entire northern part of the sky was dominated by a massive wall of smoke - with I-95 shut down, we had to take back roads to Palatka (our destination.) Figuring if the road was open, that it would be safe, we didn't turn back, but pressed onward - right into the heart of the fire zone. Man, that smoke was NASTY. It was very difficult to see, and and air started getting bad inside the car, even with the AC on recirc. We actually passed through a section where actual flames were burning along the side of the road, licking at the tires of my Rodeo. Scary? Oh yeah. Afterwards, everybody said we were fools to keep going. Oh well.
We got to Palatka, which was safe from the fires, but was covered in smoke, and jammed-packed with evacuees from the fire zones. Total doomsday-type atmosphere. That evening, however, the skies opened up and rain came down, torrential rains which stopped the spread of the fires. If it wasn't for the rains that day, there is little doubt that the fires would have burned clear across the state - it was that bad. I think at the peak, they had firefighters from 47 (!) different states fighting those fires.
No I don't remember that, I was only 4 at the time. In 2011 I was breathing smoke in southern Georgia from the spring wildfires, and saw some forest burned in Florida.
The same location 2009 vs now:
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Afterwards, everybody said we were fools to keep going. Oh well. 
