All of the data coming in is showing a different setup for next week. Are you ready for a cool down? The map below shows how above or below average the temperatures are this morning.
We recently got a new suite of weather graphic computers and they are incredible. One of the features of the system is to incorporate 3D models into a graphic. In a bigger city, this can be really fun because most of the buildings have a 3D model associated with them. In NE Arkansas, there are only a couple of buildings on Google Earth that are in 3D and they appear to have been class projects at Paragould High School and Valley View.
Last week, I sent a tweet out asking if anyone knew where I could get a 3D model of Liberty Bank Stadium. To be honest, I had found a 3D model of Razorback stadium (which I used last night) and really wanted one of The Vault to avoid complaints and phone calls. (Yes, I would get phone calls if one forecast graphic looked better than the other.)
Anywho, a guy named Jeffrey Hughey tweeted me and said that he can build one. So, Bryan McCormick and I went to LBS and took several pictures from all angles of the stadium. In just a couple of days, Jeffrey had the model built and yesterday I made this graphic with it!
A lot of people have been asking me if this summer has been "abnormal". We first must ask ourselves, "is there a such thing as 'normal' in weather"? Many times in our business, the words "normal" and "average" are used as synonyms. I'm guilty of using of using the word "normal" from time-to-time, but usually use the word "average". An average is what-it-is because there are higher numbers and lower numbers. Let's look at the rainfall in August over the past 5 years:
2008: 4.57" VERY WET
2009: 4.17" VERY WET
2010: 0.24" VERY DRY
2011: 2.49" WET
2012: 3.82" WET
The 30 year average for August is 2.54". So far, we have had 3.23" this August and we are only halfway through the month. So, is it abnormal? Let's just say... we are above average! If you just take the first 12 days of August, we are 2.24" above average so far.
We have had measurable rainfall for the past 10 days, which has made us feel like the entire Summer has been wet, but actually, July's rainfall was below average... barely.
It's all about the averages. Some months are wetter than average and some months are drier than average. This happens to be one of the above average years for rainfall in August.
To see this graphically, here is the climate graph for 2013. First, here is a legend:
