We really missed out on a lot of rain on Tuesday, with the bulk of it covering Alabama instead of Georgia (see image above). When we get into a northwest flow pattern, things become hit or miss in terms of an accurate forecast. Timing and track of these waves is at best difficult, and at worse impossible to forecast correctly. We have another decent chance for rain today before we dry out a little for Thursday and much of Friday. (EDIT: As you can see... no rain today again!)
Weekend...
The long range models (00Z GFS 500mb vorticity) are in agreement with another system traversing the area Friday night/Saturday, but in disagreement as to track and timing. The system will again bring an increase in moisture and combined with additional lift, another round of rain. Sunday may not be too bad and it appears we will return to a more summertime like pattern of isolated late afternoon and evening thundershowers.
Monthly and Yearly Rain...
With no rain in the last 24 hours, I'm still sitting at 9.49" of rain so far for July, and 42.29" for the year. That still leaves me at 1.87" behind the total rainfall for 2012 with more than 5 months left in this year.
Lightning Report...
I read an interesting report yesterday from NOAA about lightning safety. Here's one fact that I found interesting:
"(Since 2006) Of the 152 deaths associated with leisure activities, fishing (26 deaths) is followed by camping (15 deaths), boating (14 deaths), soccer (12 deaths) and golf (8 deaths). The remaining 77 people were struck by lightning while participating in a number of other leisure activities like enjoying the beach, swimming, walking and running, riding recreational vehicles, and picnicking or relaxing in their yard. Between 2006 and 2012, 82 percent of people killed by lightning were male."
If your're interested, the entire report can be read here.
On a side note...
Since the Patch redesigned their website, certain features that made it easy to see blog updates no longer work. For those of you that have followed by blog for a while, know that when the weather gets bad, I'll make frequent updates in the comments section of the blog. These updates use to appear in the stream on the main page, but since the new design was rolled out, they no longer appear there. I hear they will be back... I'll believe it when I see it though (just like the comments section no longer understanding what line breaks are).
So now when I make updates, they go unseen by everyone unless you happen to go and click on the blog post. One way to get around this problem, is to subscribe to the blog. By doing that, you'll be notified of new blog posts and (I believe) the comments too.
The Blog...
I'm excited to say that my blog is now carried by 20 different Patch.com sites here in the metro area, from Holly Springs near Cobb county all the way over to Oconee county. All the Patch locations can be found here on my About page on my website. Thanks to all that take the time to read and comment on my blog, and thanks for visiting my website. I love to hear from my readers, it helps me know that my information is getting out there. Patch won't release any traffic data to me (of course THEY know) so I have to go by feedback from my readers.
Please remember, whenever you need weather information, please visit us at the new and improved DaculaWeather.com. You can also get the latest weather information by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and here on the Patch! DaculaWeather.com... Your Window to the Weather