At a Glance
Unavailable today.
48-Hour Weather
Threats
Widespread severe weather continues to look unlikely today and throughout this week. However, any storm that develops, especially in the heat of the afternoon, could become quite intense. Flash flooding, a damaging wind gust, and deadly cloud-to-ground lightning are all possible with any stronger storms.
Baldwin’s Severe Weather Concern
Baldwin’s 7-Day forecast
Daily Forecast
Today: Partly cloudy. Hot and humid. Scattered afternoon/evening showers & thunderstorms.
Monday: Partly cloudy. Hot and humid. A chance for an afternoon/evening shower or storm. Chances this day are not as high as on Sunday or for the coming days of this week.
Tuesday – Thursday: Hot and humid. Scattered afternoon/evening showers and storms.
Friday – Saturday: Perhaps a bit lower chance for a shower or storm, mainly in the afternoon/evening, than in days past. Otherwise, hot and humid.
Baldwin’s Hay Day Forecast
We’re at that time of year when you just have to take a chance. The mornings look good this week, but the afternoons and evenings will feature a 50/50 shot at a shower or storm. Otherwise, it will be hot and humid. Be safe in that heat.
Also, be safe around any storm that develops. Being out in the open fields with lightning around is not smart. Be a smart farmer. Remember, lightning can travel up to 20 miles from a storm. If you’re close enough to see dark clouds are hear thunder, you’re close enough to be struck by lightning.
Almanac
Yesterday’s National High and Low Temperature
High: 115 at Death Valley, California
Low: 26 at Bodie State Park, California
Tropics
We still have our depression out at sea. Thunderstorm activity has increased with it this morning, and I suspect it will soon become a named tropical storm (Edouard).
Now, we have another area to watch along the northern Gulf Coast. That system will then swing north and east and parallel to the East Coast. Development of this system is set at 30% for now, but I suspect those chances will increase when the system moves into the waters of the Atlantic off the coast of Georgia early next week.
Today’s
Wx Hazards Across the Nation
Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall will threaten the northern plains today. Damaging winds, large hail, and flash flooding are the main threats with any severe storm.
Tomorrow’s
Wx Hazards Across the Nation
Severe storms will threaten portions of southern Montana and northeastern Wyoming on Monday. Isolated tornadoes are possible. The wildfire danger begins increasing out west, across portions of western Nevada.
Tuesday’s
Wx Hazards Across the Nation
Severe storms once again threaten portions of the northern plains, especially across eastern Montana. Large hail and damaging winds appear the main threats at this time. Across the Southwest US, the wildfire danger once again reaches dangerous levels.
Records
On this day in 1968 Crossville set the record low for the month of July. The mercury bottomed out at 50 degrees that morning!
Sunday Story
Saharan Dust
One may think that a desert nearly 5,000 miles to the east of the Cumberland Plateau would have no influence on our weather. Since the age of satellites, we know that isn’t true.
The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world, covering a span of real estate that is nearly the size of the continental United States!
That desert covers much of northern Africa. A sharp line divides the desert from the tropical jungles to the south. In the summertime, large dust storms develop across the desert. As the easterlies begin to increase in the summer months across the Atlantic, some of that dust gets blown across the ocean and toward North and South America.
Dust is very light in weight and is easily carried upward to high altitudes. In fact, it gets so high into the atmosphere that rain clouds can’t rain the dust out of the atmosphere.
The dust shows up on satellites and can be tracked as it gets blown across the ocean. The presence of the dust means that hot and dry air is also present in the atmosphere and that creates very poor conditions for hurricane development. Hurricanes need warm and moist air, not hot and dry air.
Billions of pounds of dust are carried across the ocean each summer. Much of that dust eventually falls to the ground over the jungles of South America. That dust helps replenish nutrients to the jungle soil that are leached out by frequent rains.
Sometimes that dust gets carried northward and makes it into our Tennessee skies. The result is brilliantly colored sunsets. If enough dust filters out the sunlight, it may even cool our daytime highs a degree or two.
This earth is a marvelous work of many moving parts. We must never forget that each part affects us all, one mysterious way or another.
You all have a great day!
