Two weeks ago metro Atlanta sweltered with most the nation as summer temperatures pushed to new heights for the year if not for the record books. All of that changed last week when a noisy derecho-like storm front roared out of northern Kentucky bringing flooding rains, severe storms and high winds to our region before slicing across Georgia and persisting into central Florida. It's especially unsettling when such events occur in the darkness of the early morning hours.
One week after storms from the north, metro Atlanta is in the midst of its annual summer monsoon out of the Gulf of Mexico. This period of three to five days of rain and storms can occur anytime from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It's especially unusual when it coincides with the warmest of the dog days of summer. This is one of those unusual years. Instead of days of mid-nineties temperatures, persistent calm from sunrise to sunset, and dryness you can taste, Atlantans have experienced mid-seventies, plenty of wind - tornadic storms yesterday and today - and three to five inches of rain. Forecasters expect this pattern to hold into Saturday.
Frankly this pattern can hold as long as there's no violence. A few more weeks and we'll be looking at an aging summer. It is a time when the sun casts ever longer shadows as it arcs lower across the southern sky. Leaves hang limp on trees catching more and more of that light, giving the woods a golden hue even at midday. Many of the birds no longer have their mating season plumage. The gardens, though still producing, have become more ragged and devoted to seed production. The year's acorn crop becomes visible at a distance. Soon our seemingly endless fall will follow. I could get upset that most of this summer has passed but for now I'll enjoy the Gulf monsoon and await the return of Orion and the Great Dog to the night sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment