Here’s the strangest result of this unbearably hot and dry summer: I am becoming Alice Fay Dickerson.
Don’t freak out. Fay is Mary Ann’s sister, not some alternate character who’s been percolating in my mind.
But Fay, who lives in Georgia, is an avid weather watcher. When the kids were young, many’s the morning she would call us to warn of the possibility of bad weather in Pike County.
I used to chuckle about it, but Fay was right. With all this 100-degree heat, I’m paying a lot more attention to the weather, too.
So I got to thinking: Just how hot and how dry has it been in Pike County this summer? I did a little research on the National Weather Service’s website for its New Orleans and Baton Rouge region.
The answers will not surprise you. Since the end of June, it has been ridiculously hot and extremely dry. And another website says those trends will continue through at least the beginning of September.
Here’s a recap of the high temperatures and rainfall, all of which is based on readings at the McComb-Pike County Airport. (Hey, this is my second straight column that involves the airport!)
In June, temperatures were normal through the 24th. The high never got above 93 degrees, hitting that on seven of those first 24 days. Five other days had highs below 90.
But things heated up starting on June 25. For five of the final six days of the month, the high temp was between 95 and 99.
The average high for the month was 91.8 degrees, more than 2 degrees above normal.
June rainfall at the airport totalled 3.18 inches. The average for that month is 5.18 inches. It rained on 11 days of the month, including a big 1.11-inch downpour on June 10 that would be sorely welcomed today.
In July, the average daily high temperature was 93.7 degrees — nearly 3 degrees above normal. The high was 95 or above 14 times during the month.
Rainfall for July totalled 3.98 inches, nearly 2 inches below average for the second straight month.
And now for the first 22 days of August, where you will see just how extreme this summer’s weather has become.
This excludes the last nine days of the month. But so far, the average high temperature in McComb has been 100.1 degrees. That is a scary 9 degrees higher than normal for August.
On 13 of the first 22 days in August, the high was 100 or above — including a peak of 104 last Saturday. On only two days was the high below 98, and each time it checked in at a toasty 94, still 2.5 degrees above the average for the month.
The rainfall information is just as alarming. Basically, we haven’t had any in August.
We got 0.03 of an inch on Aug. 2, and a “trace” on Aug. 8. And that’s it.
The airport average rainfall through Aug. 22 — not the whole month — is 4.08 inches. Add up the rain in all of June, all of July and part of August, and we are about 8 inches below average.
The last time we had some decent rain was 0.67 inches on July 22 — a full month ago. So it’s no surprise that burn bans have been issued. Everything is dry.
Another website, timeanddate.com, provides a 14-day weather forecast. If it is correct, we have some seriously high temperatures coming.
The website calls for a 106-degree high tomorrow, Aug. 24, sandwiched between 104-degree highs today and Friday.
106 degrees? Are you kidding? I don’t recall ever experiencing that.
From Saturday, Aug 26 through Friday, Sept. 1, the prediction is highs between 96 and 99. Still very high.
As for rain, it looks grim. There’s a little bit expected this week, and a little more the following week. But not nearly the good soaking that we need.
We’ve all been around long enough to know that this heat will break soon. But these numbers show just how bad it’s been this summer.
Fay, I hope you are proud of my attention to the weather!
