Upstate Weather

[distortedlogic]

Figured I would go ahead and start a general weather thread as I know a few of us like to keep up with it. I'll start off with an interesting observation. We talk a lot about upstate temps being more bearable than midland or lower state temps, but GSP has officially been hotter than CAE on 4 out of the last 8 days! Today the high at CAE was 93, with 95 at GMU (DT airport Greenville) and 97 at GSP! There have been a number of days this month where the upstate has been hotter than much of the rest of the state (hope it is not the beginning of a trend). At least some days have been due to COla area getting clouds and rain when the upstate has not (which has been significantly drier this year), but a couple of days have also been when Cola did not get rain (though I have no idea about cloudiness). So far for the month, GSP is only 6/10 of a degree cooler than CAE. I also notice that GMU is consistently 2-4 degrees cooler on highs and lows than GSP, but NOAA does not post a monthly CF6 on GMU. Anyway, this has been another hot summer, with a pretty brutal week shaping up. Guess I'll just keep dreaming of October weather!

[benjamesriddle]

OCTOBER? I'm just ready for September! FOOTBALL WEATHER IS BETTER! Tee it up already!

[distortedlogic]

Can't argue with that!

[Galley]

We had 23 days out of 30 in June with temps in the 90s or higher, with 0.13" of precipitation. That is ridiculous!

[Greenville]

Glad I'm not the only one who enjoys weather-related things. I love The Weather Channel!

I am ready for autumn. Few things are prettier than the Upstate that time of year. And being a cold weather lover, I don't think you can beat our Upstate winters. A few more inches of snow each year would be nice, but otherwise it's great!

[distortedlogic]

Think we are cut from the same weather mold Grrenville!

A couple other heat stats:

-SO far this year we have reached 90, 42 times (counting today).

-Last year we hit it 74 times, third all-time. Hopefully we will be under that this year, but it appears it will be 90 everyday through the weekend, and we still have all of August and Septenber to go through .

-Anyone remember 2003 when the high that year was 92, and we reached 90 only 10 times all year?

-We have hit 100 twice already this year after 10 times last year, all in August. That broke all the heat records last year, for the month of August, and all-time. Prior to last year, GSP had hit 100 only 35 times, now we are up to 47. It had been 7 years (since August 2000) since GSP reached 100 before that.

But just to show we are not alone, Denver hit 90+ today for the 16th consecutive day. Forcasts show it should be in 90s for at least the next 7 days (with the weekend nearing 100), which would put the streak to at least 23 days, making it the longest such streak for them ever. For comparison, GSP 90+ day streak is 38, from 1993. (I think last year would have broken it but an 89 or 88 sneaked in there somewhere).

Bring on the !

[distortedlogic]

Here is the state drought monitor map posted on 7/24. It looks pretty bleak for our entire state, but especially for the upstate, nearly all of which has now been upgraded to a D4, the worst. A new one will come out on Thursday.

[Greenviller]

Figured I would go ahead and start a general weather thread as I know a few of us like to keep up with it. I'll start off with an interesting observation. We talk a lot about upstate temps being more bearable than midland or lower state temps, but GSP has officially been hotter than CAE on 4 out of the last 8 days! Today the high at CAE was 93, with 95 at GMU (DT airport Greenville) and 97 at GSP! There have been a number of days this month where the upstate has been hotter than much of the rest of the state (hope it is not the beginning of a trend). At least some days have been due to COla area getting clouds and rain when the upstate has not (which has been significantly drier this year), but a couple of days have also been when Cola did not get rain (though I have no idea about cloudiness). So far for the month, GSP is only 6/10 of a degree cooler than CAE. I also notice that GMU is consistently 2-4 degrees cooler on highs and lows than GSP, but NOAA does not post a monthly CF6 on GMU. Anyway, this has been another hot summer, with a pretty brutal week shaping up. Guess I'll just keep dreaming of October weather!

[Jael]

That is a lot of acronyms to throw around amongst us novices. Can you spell them out?

[distortedlogic]

Sorry for the confusion, I'll try to spell them out more in the future. Thanks for adding the clarifications Jael.

[distortedlogic]

Interesting tidbit for those who may be interested in such trivia; At Greenville-Spartanburg airport (GSP) (per NOAA's website), the month of June was actually hotter than the month of July. June was officially 5.9 degrees above average at 80.6 degrees. July was 1.7 above average at 80.5 degrees. I think this is actually pretty rare. July would actually have been significantly cooler if not for the current heatwave that started the last week of July.

Hopefully, it looks like we may get some relief by the end of the week, with highs possibly staying in the 80s (fingers crossed!).

[distortedlogic]

GSP broke a daily record today by reaching 100 . Incidentally, the previous record (98) was set just last year in 07. Hope that doesn't mean next year will be 102. This is the third 100 degree day at GSP, until last year we averaged less than one day per year of 100 degree days. GMU (Gville DT airport) reached 100 also, and I think for the first time this year. Greenwood got in on the action with a 103! Cola hit 102 today, but got a few storms to cool it off before it had a chance to go higher.

[Version70-8]

Here is the new updated U.S. Drought Monitor map(s):

Even though GSP recorded 5"+ of rain from TS Fay (with other areas receiving even higher amounts) it provided very little, if any, relief to our exceptionally drought-stricken area. Sad to see that it is just our little area of the state that is currently labeled as an D4 region, while there isn't a single other part of the country suffering harder than us (as a whole)...the next worst hit areas are all labeled as D3 regions.

Photos courtesy http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm

[distortedlogic]

- A report came out last week that said GSP's average daily high temp has risen by 4.1 degrees since 1971! That is a HUGE increase in meteorological terms. And I'll bet that most of that has happened just in the past 10-15 years. BTW, it said this is the biggest such increase of any reporting station in the nation! I have that Gville seems to be warmer with repect to area cities than it used to be.

-Hartwell is now at it's lowest level ever.

-Fall is here! So far a lot of the leaf color seems a little dull, but we still have awhile before peak. If anyone has some pics please post.

[distortedlogic]

This thread has been inactive for too long!

So far this winter, GSP has only a trace of snowfall, meaning that Florence, MYB, and parts of the midlands have all had more snow than us.

Huge warmup expected over the next few days, but yesterday's high at GSP was only 34. 14 this morning at my house in Taylors. The northern upstate was actually a little warmer this morning due to some light winds that helped keep the temps from bottoming out, ie Greenwood was at 13. What kinds of temps have you guys seen at your house over the past few days?

An interesting (yet depressing) stat; Going back to 2005, (this is the 5th winter), GSP has reveived a total of only 5.8 inches of snow. Contrast that with the previous 5 winter period total of 28 inches. Also, the snowiest 5 year period was 1979-1983, with a total of 57.4 inches of snow. The least snowiest period was from 1949-1957 (9 winter period) wich saw a total of only 7 inches. (All info is from noaa).

[Galley]

I'm sick and tired of the cold weather!

[RestedTraveler]

I'd love to see some freakin' snow, myself.

[westendlvn]

I'd love to see some freakin' snow, myself.

[distortedlogic]

"snow"? I don't believe I am familiar with that!

[linkerjpatrick]

Yeah, you have to go to North Carolina unfortunately, or even Florence to see any any apparently.

And Galley, you'll like the forecast for the coming week; mid 60s to 70 for highs with lows mainly in the 40s. Fortunately for us cold weather lovers, NOAA is hinting at another pattern change somewhere in the 6-10 day outlook that could at least bring back below normal temps. I still have my fingers crossed for some snow this year!

[Galley]

Sunny and 69 degrees today. I put 20 miles on my bicycle.

[gs3]

Sunny and 69 degrees today. I put 20 miles on my bicycle.

[distortedlogic]

Well here I am like a kid; as of 5:30pm, NOAA has us in a Winter Weather Advisory (for most of us in the upstate) with a possible 2-4 inches Sunday evening and night. And for the Northern and Eastern parts of the peidmont (and much 0f NC) there is a Winter Storm Watch for 3-8 inches of snow. I have learned not to get excited around here until it is actually on the ground, but...

[distortedlogic]

As of 6:00 NWS has just upgraded us to a WInter Storm Watch due to some late info coming with some potentialy heavier amounts. Stay tuned!

[gs3]

The amount of rain we have received over the last three days is fantastic! Defintely puts a large dent in the drought.

If you haven't been by the falls today, check them out......they are ROARING!!!! Beautiful sight! Even the smaller falls in Rock Quarry Garden are roaring! So good to see.