HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
July 26, 2006 It all begins when the dew point remains at 55 or higher for three consecutive days. (explanation below) * The dew point temperature is the temperature to which the air must be cooled to reach saturation (assuming air pressure remains the same). The dew point is a direct measure of the amount of moisture present in the air, and directly affects how you feel... or in other words... measures the amount of humidity in the air. Remember, the temperature never drops below its dew point, but can drop to it. Generally, we start to feel some discomfort when the dew point gets to or just above 60 degrees. ... It usually begins in the early evening with a slight breeze and the smell of moisture in the air. When it hits with full force we see an amazing light show in the sky above. Thunder shakes my home and on occasion (but not always), we get either rain or blowing dust. Last night and all of this past week we have had monsoons. Last night's was damaging and scary. The reporter who flies a helicopter for one of our local news channels stated that in his over 20 years of covering the weather in Phoenix, he had never seen so much lightening. We were warned to stay inside our homes because the lightening was hitting the ground. It is beautiful to watch but when I think about the potential harm that those bold strikes can bring the beauty is lost on me. On occasion, homes have been struck with lightening and people have actually been killed sitting quietly watching their television sets. I dread and fear lightening and I dread and fear the 40-60 mile per hour sustained winds that often come with these storms. When I first moved here it never occurred to me to be frightened but I now know better. I have seen roofs blown off (including part of my own), trees downed and people die. I have seen flood waters that have trapped people who refuse to heed warnings of flash floods and continue to attempt to make it through the normally dry road that they take on a regular basis. I have seen rescues and every year someone disregards the warnings and gets stuck in what has become a raging river but was once a dry creek bed that connects public roads. Last night we were experiencing a particularly bad storm that covered the entire State and the entire Valley that comprises the city of Phoenix and it's suburbs. As I went to bed for the evening the wind had subsided, the small amount of rain had stopped and it seemed that all was right with the world. When I awoke this morning I noticed that my computer had shut down, the battery operated clocks were blinking and that meant that we had lost power sometime during the night. I had slept through the worst of the storm. There is no relief in sight for the time being as our weather stations are telling us that we can expect more of the same all week long and far into the month of August. Last year it lasted until the middle of September so I have no idea when the Monsoon Season will end. The weather is hotter than usual and the storms stronger...obviously, we, along with the rest of the Country are experiencing a weather phenomenon which some blame on global warming and others say is simply a cycle of weather that comes along every so many years and does not signal dire predictions of melting icebergs and the destruction of mankind and the planet. I have no idea what is true or not as I am not an expert on weather. I do know that I dread these storms and hope that they aren't prolonged into the Fall. We don't have any real change of seasons here so I call it very hot, less hot, and slightly cool as opposed to Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Summer seems endless to me so that means that my category of very hot is starting earlier each year and lasting longer. I long for some cool weather (somewhere in the 70's or 80's would be nice). I suspect that I have a long wait. ------------ About the author: Meri has a Medical/Legal background and is a former forensic researcher specializing in psychological profiling. https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=27335 Email: writers2@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
