Charlotte Weather Information at TerriBennett.com

In my book, the weather this May has been nearly perfect. Of course we didn't get enough rain but the not-too-hot temperatures and the low levels of humidity have made for some delightful days!

Many of you have commented on the pleasant temperatures and of course we're convinced that the weather this May is not the norm. One woman told me "Normally by now you can barely stand the heat". That sent me digging into the weather records to find out if in fact this May has been unusual.

I already knew that this May has been cooler than normal, by about two degrees. It's been cooler than last year but warmer than 2006 or 2005. What is unusual is that every afternoon in May the thermometer measured between 71 and 87 degrees. That's a fairly narrow range of afternoon highs and shows that the weather has been pretty consistent. In my book it hasn't been too hot or too cold....it's been just right and my pocket book agrees! The air conditioning has not been necessary this month yet it's been too warm for heat. I wonder if Duke Energy will be the next company to raise rates because we are using less?

So May has been cooler than normal but what is normal anyway? In meteorology it is the average of the last 30 years of weather records. Compared to the last 30 Mays in Charlotte it's been a bit cooler but the month is not over yet. Part of the perception with a cooler than normal May is that Memorial Day came early. We still have several days to go and the outlook is for high heat and humidity!

The following is an article written by my friend John Snyder about Memorial Day. John is a wonderful writer and I thought it would be appropriate to share it with you this holiday. It's an important message. The article will appear in several newspapers in his home state of Ohio.




PAUSING TO REMEMBER

BY

John Snyder


I am named for a man I never knew. His name is carved in granite on a wall just North of London. That wall is in a U.S. cemetery and carries the names of those missing at sea or missing in action, those whose bodies were never recovered.
John G. Snyder, my uncle, died 64 years ago next month (June 29, 1944). He was killed in a troop ship crossing from England to France three weeks after D-Day. The ship either hit a mine or was hit by a torpedo. He and many others were lost at sea.
My uncle was eight years older than my father and I was not born until several years after his death. The local American Legion post in my Ohio hometown is named for him.
He was married and left a young widow at his death, which came just after my father graduated from high school. My dad eventually became a member of the 82nd Airborne, and had the atom bomb not ended the war, he would likely have parachuted into Japan. It was estimated that U.S. casualties in an invasion of Japan might have been one million. My grandparents might have lost two sons and I might not be here.
I write this not because my family’s story is in any way unique or different. That’s the point: it’s not.
There are thousands of families who had sons go off to war; thousands of young brides who became widows; thousands of children who grew up without fathers and thousands of families who will forever and always have an empty place at the table.
My uncle has seldom been in my thoughts over the years. It’s tough to mourn someone you never knew. But he comes to mind now on the eve of Memorial Day and the anniversary of D-Day on June 6th.
In recent years I have gotten to know a great many veterans of World War Two: men who saw others die on D-Day, who survived the Bataan Death March and years as prisoners of war, a man who flew bombing missions over Germany, a veteran grievously wounded at Iwo Jima and a soldier with Patton’s 3rd army who was there at the liberation of a Nazi Death Camp. Almost to a man, they broke down when remembering what they saw and talking of those who never returned.
For the last five years we have celebrated Memorial Day and remembered D-Day while in the midst of another war.
For the record, I have been against the Iraq war from the beginning. I think it was started under false pretenses and more than a touch of arrogance, all wrapped in a cloak of inept administration. But when I think of the war I try not to think of what I consider failed policy, but instead think of young men going from building to building in Baghdad and other cities, places were death could come behind any door. I think of soldiers in convoys on dirt roads that could explode at any moment, and I think of men younger than my sons cradling friends who are drawing their last breath.
I have never been a flag waver. I think the flag has too often been used to cover up holes in the American dream, to hide the times this country has fallen short of the ideals on which it was founded. However, I know a great deal about the sacrifice and blood it took to protect what we cherish, and if sometimes we lose sight of what that sacrifice meant, if the sacrifice itself is lost in the pages of history, what it bought for us is evident every day. Despite our problems and our faults we do remain the “shining city on a hill” that the pilgrim preacher talked about long before we became a country.
My uncle’s war and the current one are separated by more than 60 years and a wide difference of opinion. But there is one way that the two wars, like all wars, are very much alike: young men die.
We will soon be remembering the sacrifice of men who fell at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, the Argonne, Normandy, Bastogne, Pork Chop Hill, Khe Sanh and yes, especially now, in Iraq. There have been many other such names in our history and there will be more in the future, places where men have died and will die for something greater than themselves.
The debate over Iraq will continue through and well beyond the presidential election, no matter who wins. History will have the final say on the war, but courage and sacrifice should always be honored. That’s something about which there must be no debate.

It's hard to believe, but yes you can see the International Space Station from your very own backyard. In fact, if you've never seen it this is the week to take a look!

The International Space Station is a joint effort between 16 countries on four continents. It's the largest and most complex international science experiment ever conducted. The first section was put into orbit in 1998 and humans have been living on the station continuously since November 2000.

Currently the International Space Station is about the size of an average three bedroom home. It travels at 17,500 miles per hour, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 220 miles above the Earth's surface. When it's completed in 2010, the space station will measure 356 feet across and 290 feet long with almost an acre of solar panels to provide electrical power. When the space craft is in orbit over our darkened skies, it is these large solar arrays that reflect sunlight back toward Earth making the space station visible without use of binoculars or a telescope.

Over the next week, the orbit of the space station is such that it will pass over the southeastern United States several times a day. In the hours before sunrise and after sunset, these passes will be visible to the naked eye, weather permitting of course. It will appear as a very bright object moving across the darkened sky. The light will not flicker like an airplane nor will it twinkle like a star and it moves from one side of the sky to the opposite in under six minutes.

If you've never seen it, this is the week to check it out! Look under the Night Sky tab for all of the times and directions.

Keep Looking Up!

Severe thunderstorms have certainly been a part of many weekends this spring. It's not that the number of days with thunder has been unusually high but the number of days with severe storms has been unusually high.

So what's to blame?

Spring is typically a season of volatile weather. One day can be very warm and the next quite cool. This has certainly been the case this year. The boundary where cold and warm air meet is called the jet stream. The jet stream can be thought of as a global conveyor belt of stormy weather. This spring the jet stream has been very active, frequently diving southward over the mid-Atlantic states. The active jet stream pattern has resulted in more frequent strong storms but it's simply a coincidence that many of them have occurred on the weekend.

So you're not alone in thinking that the weekends seem particularly stormy lately. The good news is that this will not last. As spring grows into summer the jet stream will shift northward taking the storm track with it. So the trend of stormy weekends will end soon enough but lets hope that the rain finds a way to keep falling during the work week!

Keep Looking Up!

After more than a week of rain-free weather for most of the greater Charlotte region there is rain on the way and most of it could fall over the weekend.

Thursday a weak front will sage southward across the region. With copious amounts of moisture and afternoon temperatures near 80 scattered thunderstorms will develop. Rainfall amounts will be light for most but a few isolated areas will benefit from the downpours.

Over the weekend the front will lift northward again Saturday and a trailing low pressure center and cool front will cross the area Sunday. This could bring some isolated .75 to 1.00 inch rainfall totals.

Since March 1 , 2008 we are .35 inches above normal rainfall. For the year we are 2.60 inches behind. River streamflows that had recovered to near normal levels early last week have once again dropped to below 25% of normal streamflow for this time of year.


Drought conditions have improved slightly but water levels remain low both above and below ground. The exceptions of course are the man-made lakes controlled with dams. The lakes are near normal levels and that is great news. We just need to continue to be mindful of the water we are using from the lakes and the hot weather coming. Water evaporates at a faster rate when it's hotter.

The hurricane season could be the answer we need. Charlotte receives around 10% of its summertime rain from the remnants of tropical storms and hurricanes.

March and April brought beneficial rains and since the first of March we are about three quarters of an inch above normal rainfall. Drought conditions have improved for much of the area but the drought is not over yet.

So when will the drought officially be over? Technically it is half over. Last fall the drought was classified as both agricultural and hydrological. The first meaning that the crops and our landscapes were suffering from a lack of rain. A hydrological drought meant that the lakes, rivers and water table underground that provide our drinking water were suffering from a lack of rain.

With the parade of storms this spring the agricultural drought is over. The growing season has benefited from a above normal rainfall.

The hydrological drought however continues although there has been dramatic improvement this spring. This USGS map shows streamflows in rivers across North Carolina.





The map was covered with yellow and red dots up until just a few weeks ago denoting below normal streamflows and low water levels. Now, greens and blues are the norm except for a pocket in the western part of the state where water levels remain below normal.

Underground the water table has risen several feet in most locations but there is still more improvement that needs to occur.

So the drought is almost over but the hot dry months of summer are still ahead. We'll need the parade of storms to continue. We also need to continue conserving water where we can. If nothing else the latest drought has shown us just how vulnerable we are to water shortages.

The Wachovia Championship teed off with beautiful weather Thursday and it will be warm and breezy again Friday. Afternoon temperatures will climb to around 80 degrees and winds will become breezy during the afternoon with speeds up to 18mph. Some patchy cloudiness will bring some relief from the heat but sunscreen will be a definite must if you're heading out to the course. It will be hot in the sunshine so be sure to wear light colored clothing and take a hat.

Saturday will start off warm and breezy with some sunshine but late afternoon thunderstorms may chase players and fans off the course. High temperatures will top out near 80 degrees again before a weak cold front moves slowly across the area late Saturday. Scattered thunderstorms will develop Saturday afternoon and evening. A stray storm is possible again Sunday. Temperatures Sunday will remain warm with sunrise temps in the mid 50s and afternoon highs in the mid 70s.