Charlotte Weather

[Mobuchu]

Is it me or has the weather been extreme this year? We had a drought early in the year, since late spring we have had some really bad T-storms, we have had record setting temps, and the hurricane season is just starting. I really wish I had taken more, but here are just a couple pics of things iv'e seen this year.

This is from just this morning, and what is funny is that it was from the thunderstorms we had last night, not the tropical storm that is moving in today. This is Choate cir in Southwest Charlotte, you cant tell from the pic but the water was moving pretty good. On Carowinds I saw a couple guys (i think from USGS) looking into the same creek, it was only like 5 feet below the street level, kinda scary.

A huge tree in Dilworth that came down during a storm earlier this month. Trees have wreaked havoc for the utilities this summer, another reason to put them underground...

This tree was over in Wilmore, not as big, but it took out all the utilities, a basketball net, and did some minor damage to a house. This was a different storm.

And who could forget the heat we have had. I think this was a record day for Charlotte.

8-2-06

[monsoon]

In terms of just the heat extremes, 98 really isn't that bad. 20 years ago, summer of '86, we had close to 4 straight weeks of 100+ degree weather. I think it got up to 104 a few times. The summer was particularly dry up until August, then we had a period of almost constant rain for a month. There were a few other times in the 80s, I want to say 1980, that we had periods of weather like that.

Nice photos though. Thanks for posting them.

[DigitalSky]

It may just be a cycle.

[Seabreeze]

When I look back at my memories of Charlotte weather, this year has been pretty bland. I remember several years of drought, times of extremely bad flooding (McAlpine Creek was actually flowing OVER the bridge at Monroe Rd. near McAlpine Creek Park), ice storms knocking out power for weeks, tornado outbreaks...

[Batou]

Anyone remember the dec 2002 icestorm that was literally dubbed by some ppl "Hugo on ice" ?

[Skyline49er]

I wonder how the winter season will treat us this year? I know the snow here has been pretty non-existant the past two winters.

[Mobuchu]

Maybe its because I feel the effects first hand at work, but the T-storms, and especially the amount of lightning we have gotten has been alot worse. Certainly what we have had during the past 6 weeks.

I had heard about that hot summer down here on the news when they were comparing it to this summers heat. It was at a different time of the month though, because we have had at least 2 record days in early August.

Not much can compare to Hugo, or the ice storm which I was here for, but hey, the year isn't over yet.

[Charlotte_native]

I don't think anything is extreme. I remember Christmas's where we wore shorts and I remember winters with hellatious ice storms. I remember one winter where we had a huge snow storm in Boone during final exams in May.

We live in a mid-area of the east coast and have a bit of all kinds of weather -- years of extreme one way or the other have cycled my whole life. I've actually thought, not including the drought, that we have had it pretty good lately when it comes to extremes in Winter and Summer.

I just wish Fall and Spring weather lasted longer!

Actually talking about lightening, I seem to remember one summer in the 80's where we could almost predict the exact time of day the end of day lighting storms would hit. I remember that they came daily for at least a couple weeks if not for a month. My family is a bunch of freaks, we like them and would eat dinner in the garage with the doors open and the cars pulled out so we could sit in the storm.

[uptownliving]

The weather this year doesn't seem to be too much out of the ordinary...what does seem to be happening more than say 20 years ago is all the urban flooding we have after the storms pass through. OF course we have a lot more impervious surfaces now then we did 20 years ago.

[Jerseyman4]

Nothing in NC suprises me anymore with weather except the freak 2 feet of snow accumluation in the middle of the Sandhills back in 2000. I dont believe Charlotte received any significant snow during that period but did get a couple inches if anything but between Moore County and Raleigh was basically 18 to 24 inches of snow.

[queensguy06]

It seems it has been a relatively cool August/Sept. as far as I can remember. The humidity is way down, and there has been a lot of days where we haven't gotten out of the low to mid 80's. It's not even supposed to get out of the 70's tomorrow.

Just to show some of the wierd weather we get around here (in F):

The record high in June: 104

The average high in June: 87

The record low in June: 30

The record high in Jan.: 80

The average high in Jan.: 52

the record low in Jan.: -4

[nowensone]

Anyone else live here in the early 80's remember the freak snowstorm in May? That's not a typo, I'm not sure what date in May or the exact year. Snowed what seemed like several inches, was completely gone and warm/sunny the next day of course, but that is not even common in colder parts of the country. My mother remembers this as well, so pretty sure I'm not nuts.

[Charlotte_native]

Anyone else live here in the early 80's remember the freak snowstorm in May? That's not a typo, I'm not sure what date in May or the exact year. Snowed what seemed like several inches, was completely gone and warm/sunny the next day of course, but that is not even common in colder parts of the country. My mother remembers this as well, so pretty sure I'm not nuts.

Was it the 80's or very early 90's? It might be the one I mentioned earlier, I think it was 1991

[nowensone]

Was it the 80's or very early 90's? It might be the one I mentioned earlier, I think it was 1991

No, I was about 6, maybe 7 years old at the time, so had to be early 80's (moved away from Charlotte when I was 10), and it was soon after my birthday in May, so pretty sure of the month too. I could be off a little, but in '91 I was in high school in Greensboro, so not then. Kids do tend to exagerate memories, so it may not have been a couple of inches, maybe just a light blanket, but did cover the ground.

[Charlotte_native]

Just to show some of the wierd weather we get around here (in F):

The record high in June: 104

The average high in June: 87

The record low in June: 30

When was it 30 in JUNE??

[monsoon]

Anyone else live here in the early 80's remember the freak snowstorm in May? That's not a typo, I'm not sure what date in May or the exact year. Snowed what seemed like several inches, was completely gone and warm/sunny the next day of course, but that is not even common in colder parts of the country. My mother remembers this as well, so pretty sure I'm not nuts.

I lived here through the 80s and I don't remember one in May. I think the storm you are describing occured in April.

[nowensone]

I lived here through the 80s and I don't remember one in May. I think the storm you are describing occured in April.

Well, damnit, I was sure of the month, OK, so you do remember a storm in April like this? Of course April is not so out of the realm of normal, just an abnormally long winter, but the day I remember was as an anomaly, it was fairly warm before and the day after this happened. Oh well, I was young, might have been the ADD...

[A2]

Nothing in NC suprises me anymore with weather except the freak 2 feet of snow accumluation in the middle of the Sandhills back in 2000. I dont believe Charlotte received any significant snow during that period but did get a couple inches if anything but between Moore County and Raleigh was basically 18 to 24 inches of snow.

Actually South Charlotte ended up getting 14 inches. The reason I remember so vividly is because that was my 1st winter in CLT. What was odd is that the storm primarily affected the southern half of the county (and as you suggested the sandhills). The northern part was for the most part spared the brunt of the storm.

Even the weather guys thought it was freakish since the cold air actually was not "in place" to actually initially support snow, but rather the storm brough its own cold air aloft. It actually started out as HEAVY rain. Since the rain was extremely heavy the column of air between the cloud tops and the ground was allowed to cool to a temp supporting snow. And snow it did. I actually remember thinking it was the hardest I had ever seen it snow, including my time in the Mountains.

What is really wild is that just a couple of years back I got 21 inches (nearly two feet) in Southpark!

I think that Charlotte is due for another biggie, as they seem to come in cycles. It has been a while since our last Big storm, so I think 2007 might be interesting.

FWIW, I lived in Philly in the 96 Blizzard and it shut the city down. The reason I bring that up is because I am always told by my Northern Friends that the South does not have much of a winter or rather can't deal with it when it "flurries". I really have to disagree. In my time up North I actually saw more closings due to weather than I though I would. 6-8 inches of Snow could easily close schools. Not too mention that if you take a 10 year average of total snow, Charlotte actually is just a little behind cities like Philly in snowfall.

I know that seems crazy, but because of our super storms that seem to come every 2-3 years it puts Charlotte's average way up there. Last year in my opinion was a fluke. I have lived in CLT now for 6-7 years and last year was the first where we did not get a significant snow or Ice storm.

A2

[MZT]

Generally, I don't think this summer has been a hot one. Yeah, a few very hot days ... but we never had a true "heat wave" that lasted for a couple of weeks with temps pressing 100.

I really cannot remember ever seeing a snow in May, even in Greensboro. But there I do remember a few, wet early-April snows there in the 1980s.

I'll never forget the "Lightning-snow" in Charlotte at the end of February 2004, though. I never saw anything like that before, including the winter I lived in the Sierra Nevadas! I'd also just had a new heat pump installed a few days before that snow, man was I glad of that timing....

[monsoon]

Generally, I don't think this summer has been a hot one. Yeah, a few very hot days ... but we never had a true "heat wave" that lasted for a couple of weeks with temps pressing 100.

Actually we had a couple of them in the 1980s. One 20 years ago in 1986, I believe we had 3 weeks of weather above 100. I remember driving home after a 4th of July party in 1986 and the big digital thermometer that used to be at Park Rd Shopping center had 104 on it. There was a similar period in 1980. The heat would just drain the energy out of you.

[Charlotte_native]

Actually we had a couple of them in the 1980s. One 20 years ago in 1986, I believe we had 3 weeks of weather above 100. I remember driving home after a 4th of July party in 1986 and the big digital thermometer that used to be at Park Rd Shopping center had 104 on it. There was a similar period in 1980. The heat would just drain the energy out of you.

UGH. I much prefer cold weather! I remember plenty of very hot summers. To the earlier post, if we are due for a big snow storm this year bring it on! I don't want an ice storm or something that creates power outages, but a nice two or three day unplanned vacation with friends and some bourbon will do me right.

[MZT]

Well by "never had" I just meant "not this year".

I remember the mid 1980s summer Metro is talking about... Riding in a friend of a friend's 1964 Falcon (with no A/C of course.) Cars of that era have a lot more metal surfaces inside them and vinyl seats. Oh, man, was that like being cooked in a can... nowhere to put your hands... even cranking the windows was hard because the handles were metal.... not even possible to sit still on those vinyl seats.... Oooo! Owww!

I think that was 1984 or 1985, though. We could look up the weather archives, but I'm not going to display that level of geekdom today.

[voyager12]

I am flying back to Charlotte today after visiting my sister down here in Naples,FL. A beautiful town, but I could never live here! Day after day after day of 90s all summer long. I guess you adjust if you live here awhile because the locals don't seem bothered and sit outside during the worst heat of the day while I ran for the AC. And then they get a "break" during the winter when it's only in the mid 80s I just could not deal. I need a change of seasons and think Charlotte has a great mix without being too intense either way.

[Jerseyman4]

^They complain down there that it is too cold if it gets under 79 degrees.