Today’s temperatures, averaging more then ten degrees above normal, broke records across Georgia and the eastern seaboard, as the heat wave we’re in continues. Here are some temperatures from around the area, along with the record temperature for June 8th:

Athens - High 101 Old Record 96
Columbus - High 97 Old Record 96
Macon - High 98 Ties Old Record
Savannah - High 97 Record 100
Augusta - High 100 Record 103
Atlanta - 95 Record 96
Gainesville - 95 Record 97
Charlotte, NC - 99 Ties Old Record
Asheville, NC - 93 Old Record 91
Raleigh, NC - 101 Old Record 100
Wilmington, NC - 98 Old Record 96
Greenville, SC - 100 Ties Old Record
Richmond, VA - 100 Old Record 99
Burlington VT - 91 Ties Old Record

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A few things of interest to the weather community:

The first tropical storm of the season has developed in the Eastern Pacific Basin. Tropical Storm Alma is currently passing over Nicaragua in Central America, and is forecast to dissipate as she heads north towards the Yucatan peninsula. The Atlantic tropical season starts on Sunday.While some runs of the GFS model indicated some sort of storm developing in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, it appears that it was either a false alarm, or the GFS was really picking up on Alma.

The drought continues to diminish somewhat. Last week, all of metro Atlanta dropped from the extreme drought category to simply severe. As of this week, only Stephens, Franklin, Hart and Elbert counties in northeast Georgia are in extreme drought conditions, and 27% of the state is in a severe drought, including most of the area covered by the level four drought conditions.

Meanwhile, the Georgia EPD further relaxed watering restrictions for golf courses, which previously had only been allowed to water their greens. As of today, the new order from state EPD chief Carol Couch says that fairways and tee boxes can be watered, however golf courses can use only 65% of the water they used in 2005 or 2006.

This is actually a good thing, since golf courses typically get their water from natural lakes or ponds rather than the municipal water systems, and they contribute to the economy both directly and indirectly.

It looks like the hot, humid days of summer may be upon us. Despite today’s cooler than normal weather, caused by cold air damming that kept the clouds around and the temperatures low, the weather service says highs will be in the upper 80s beginning Saturday and continuing all next week. In addition, dewpoints are going to stay in the 60s, meaning you’ll feel the humidity and the heat more than you have since last summer. Accuweather is predicting a high of 93 for Tuesday, which would be the first time this year we’ve broken 90.

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The Mother’s Day weekend storm brought late-season weather misery to much of the country over the weekend, and continues to cause trouble in the Northeast US. And, it looks like the rainy weather is likely to continue.

The storm initially caused tornadoes in Oklahoma and Missouri before moving into Georgia early Sunday morning. The Atlanta area was placed under a tornado watch as early as Saturday afternoon and the storms struck overnight, with two EF2 tornadoes striking in Carroll and Douglas counties shortly after 4 AM. It had a 25 mile long path, and caused large scale property damage.

An hour later, a third tornado tore into Clayton county near I-675. Also an EF2, this storm had a 13 mile track into Henry, Rockdale and Newton counties with wind speeds of up to 130 MPH. Further south, yet another EF2 tornado caused considerable damage in the city of Macon when it went through Bibb and Twiggs counties, including destroying two businesses and creating a lot of damage at Macon State College.

The fifth tornado caused one death and three injuries as it moved through Laurens county north of Dublin around 6:30 AM. It destroyed several mobile homes in its seven mile path. It was also an EF2. Another tornado touched down near Vidalia around 7:30 AM, and the Weather Service thinks that more tornadoes may have touched down elsewhere in the state.

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It’s been about ten days since I last posted. I guess you can blame the lack of posting on a combination of chamber of commerce weather in the Atlanta area, my trying to get the garden in shape and a busy April that is taking me out of town three times this month.

There really hasn’t been much to complain about the weather since the cold threat back on April 14-15.  Even that turned out to be a bust, with temperatures hovering just above freezing. We seem to have settled into a pattern of beautiful weekday weather, with a cold front coming in on the weekend to bring rain.  It looks like that pattern might continue for another week or two.  Rain is expected both this weekend and next. It’s bad news for the weekend gardener trying to plant annuals in wet soil.

Of course, wet soils are the least of the problems for much of the Midwest and Northeast, which have been inundated with precipitation, leading to flooding.  Missouri had its second wettest March ever.  Cape Girardeau, Missouri had 13.84 inches of rain in 48 hours last month–about what the Atlanta area has seen all year.  Pennsylvania and New York had their third wettest March since recordkeeping began.  Georgia ended up having its 36th driest month, however it appears that for a change, the northern half of the state had closer to normal rainfall than the southern half.

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Gwinnett County today revised its watering restrictions to allow hand watering as permitted by state guidelines, but held off on making changes to its policy for watering of professionally installed landscaping.

As you may remember, in mid-February, the county revised the watering restrictions it had put in place in December to allow filling of swimming pools. It also modified its rules regarding watering of professionally installed landscaping to allow watering on 10 days within 30 days of installation if a sign was posted and the homeowner had completed an online course. The county’s guidelines were set to expire on March 31st.

In March, the county commission delegated the authority for managing watering restrictions during the drought to county administrator Jock Connell. He decided today to relax the restrictions on hand watering to those allowed by the state. That means you can use a hose with a hand-activated nozzle to water your plants for up to 25 minutes three days per week, on an odd-even schedule. People with even numbered addresses can water on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while people with odd numbered addressed can water on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. All watering must be done between midnight and 8 AM. Food gardens can be watered anytime, and the you are not allowed to use your 25 minute window to wash your car.

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