I mentioned in a couple of blog posts earlier this month how close we were to breaking all-time records for precipitation (or lack there-of) and temperature. Now we have some data, at least through the 30th. Meteorologist Roy Eckberg has informed us that this July is the 4th coolest on record and the 3rd driest on record. As I have mentioned previously, it is very interesting that we had these two trends linked during this month. When you think of drought, you usually think of hot weather. When you think of cold summer temps, you usually imagine a lot of cloudy rainy days. This year was unique in that it was cold and dry at the same time. And just to put an exclamation point on the month, today will be drier and cooler than normal.

It looks like the trend will continue into the beginning of August as well. At this point, I am forecasting high temps in the 70s from today all the way through next Friday, however there are still some hints that we could top 80 on a day or two. Maybe on Sunday. Maybe on Wednesday of next week. The coldest day will be tomorrow when the mercury will struggle to reach 70. Besides the cool temps, outdoor adventurers will have to battle a gusty west wind and a bit of rain on Saturday. The highest chance of rain will be during the morning and then a few spotty showers could develop by late afternoon.

Space News:

In case you haven’t heard, WhiteKnightTwo - the Virgin Galactic airplane that is designed to help take tourists to the edge of space - landed at the EAA earlier this week. It was the plane’s first flight across the country. Here is an article describing the event. It was revealed as well that Virgin Galactic will try to make some cash launching micro-satellites into orbit. A viewer, Gene Santoski - from Wisconsin Rapids was at EAA and took a picture of the plane in flight. Thanks for the pic Gene!

Virgin Galactic appears to be involved in another even more ambitious adventure - Virgle - a plan to colonize Mars in cooperation with Google. Of course, this is on a multi-decade time frame.

This isn’t quite space news but interesting none-the-less. WhiteKnightTwo isn’t the only new development in aviation, electric planes are becoming more common as well. Just based on my limited understanding of current battery technology and aviation, I doubt we will be seeing electric jetliners anytime soon, but short-flight planes might become more common, especially if new AGW regulations add steep taxes onto fossil fuel driven planes and travel tickets.

Have a fine weekend! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Alternative Energy, Records, Science, Space