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My weather station has only recorded 0.07 inches of rain for this entire month so far, and even the last few days of August lacked rain too. I've also recorded 90F+ highs for most days this month, including a 99F high (even July is is only 90F+ on about half of days in July). In fact, six out of seven days the past week have been 95F+, and the seventh was still 93F. Yet, when I checked the news this evening, I saw NO COVERAGE about this bad drought!
Has anyone else been experiencing this? I know Carthage and some parts of Jackson County got a freak rainstorm last week, but that and the rain we were supposed to get the next day just barely dropped 0.07 inches on my backyard - COMBINED.
EDIT: These August/September droughts often make me wonder if Tennessee may be headed towards a future where the climate is Hot-summer Mediterranean instead of Humid subtropical, as common as they've been in recent years. If so, I also wonder how the native vegetation will be different.
Last edited by Sun Belt-lover L.A.M.; 09-16-2019 at 09:07 PM..
My weather station has only recorded 0.07 inches of rain for this entire month so far, and even the last few days of August lacked rain too. I've also recorded 90F+ highs for most days this month, including a 99F high (even July is is only 90F+ on about half of days in July). In fact, six out of seven days the past week have been 95F+, and the seventh was still 93F. Yet, when I checked the news this evening, I saw NO COVERAGE about this bad drought!
Has anyone else been experiencing this? I know Carthage and some parts of Jackson County got a freak rainstorm last week, but that and the rain we were supposed to get the next day just barely dropped 0.07 inches on my backyard - COMBINED.
EDIT: These August/September droughts often make me wonder if Tennessee may be headed towards a future where the climate is Hot-summer Mediterranean instead of Humid subtropical, as common as they've been in recent years. If so, I also wonder how the native vegetation will be different.
The Nashville area is still more than 13” above average in year to date precipitation. That’s most likely why “Drought” isn’t being mentioned for your location.
My weather station has only recorded 0.07 inches of rain for this entire month so far, and even the last few days of August lacked rain too. I've also recorded 90F+ highs for most days this month, including a 99F high (even July is is only 90F+ on about half of days in July). In fact, six out of seven days the past week have been 95F+, and the seventh was still 93F. Yet, when I checked the news this evening, I saw NO COVERAGE about this bad drought!
Has anyone else been experiencing this? I know Carthage and some parts of Jackson County got a freak rainstorm last week, but that and the rain we were supposed to get the next day just barely dropped 0.07 inches on my backyard - COMBINED.
EDIT: These August/September droughts often make me wonder if Tennessee may be headed towards a future where the climate is Hot-summer Mediterranean instead of Humid subtropical, as common as they've been in recent years. If so, I also wonder how the native vegetation will be different.
Ps. Hot summer Mediterranean climates are not humid during their respective dry seasons aka summers, which is why such climates are so dry in the summer; in sincerely doubt that Tennessee is going to become Mediterranean in climate, if anything it is destined to become more solidly Subtropical or maybe even tropical in climate.
Ps. Hot summer Mediterranean climates are not humid during their respective dry seasons aka summers, which is why such climates are so dry in the summer; in sincerely doubt that Tennessee is going to become Mediterranean in climate, if anything it is destined to become more solidly Subtropical or maybe even tropical in climate.
I doubt it'll become solidly tropical. The polar vortex is probably going to prevent the winters from warming quite as quickly as the summers, even though some of the averages certainly will go up (especially during the day).
Even if the winters did warm as quickly as the summers, and the global average temperature reached the 80F needed to melt all polar ice (with Tennessee also adding 21F to their 59F average temp), the coldest month would still average 58.7F. It needs to be 64.4F to be solidly tropical for humid climates; although with arid climates, it's up for debate, as Koppen doesn't divide them except as hot/cold, and Trewartha doesn't divide them at all.
As for Mediterranean climates not being humid: true in some cases, but Los Angeles (a famous Mediterranean climate) is quite humid year-round and still gets almost no rain during summer. Also, if a place gets to having 100F+ average highs and isn't right by the coast, it's very likely that the humidity will have trouble getting high enough to prompt much precipitation (hot air has a huge vapor capacity) despite having high dew points overall. However, that's likely to happen to Austin, DFW, OKC, Little Rock and Memphis (probably even in that order) before it can happen to Nashville.
I dread what summers in the interior South will be like by the end of the century; summers are already desert-like temperature-wise with tropical-like humidity and increasingly severe drought. At least it'll be safer than the lowland South (which is already extremely dangerous) with all those hurricanes and that sea level rise...
There's no way TN could become Mediterranean. There are actually patches of Mediterranean climates in Texas already that just developed in the past 20 years.
See the yellow areas near Austin, that is the Hill Country west of Austin. It is already a Mediterranean climate and that zone is forecast to expand. This map is quite old, I'm thinking that the Med zone includes Austin at this point.
There's no way TN could become Mediterranean. There are actually patches of Mediterranean climates in Texas already that just developed in the past 20 years.
See the yellow areas near Austin, that is the Hill Country west of Austin. It is already a Mediterranean climate and that zone is forecast to expand. This map is quite old, I'm thinking that the Med zone includes Austin at this point.
There is also a Med climate zone on Padre Island.
I did see those patches of Med climate in Texas. However, I was skeptical; one seems to be positioned where DFW is, and the rainfall there in the driest high-sun month isn't low enough to qualify. Love Field has 1.87 inches in August; to qualify as Mediterranean, you need 1.2 inches or less AND to be no more than a third of the wettest low-sun month.
Back to the original question, though. Has anyone noticed/experienced/heard about a drought in Tennessee recently?
I did see those patches of Med climate in Texas. However, I was skeptical; one seems to be positioned where DFW is, and the rainfall there in the driest high-sun month isn't low enough to qualify. Love Field has 1.87 inches in August; to qualify as Mediterranean, you need 1.2 inches or less AND to be no more than a third of the wettest low-sun month.
Back to the original question, though. Has anyone noticed/experienced/heard about a drought in Tennessee recently?
That's not where DFW is. It's more like where Milford is. Milford gets 1.34" in July and 4.1" in October. It's right at the cusp and that's from older climate data. It very well could've gone below 1.2" in July now. Those patches have been getting bigger. Killeen is another that is getting very close or probably is already Med.
.68" here in northeast TN, so much drier than normal, but not to the point that the lawn needs to be watered. Have had some lightening and thunder and the scent of rain in the air, but the actual rain has disappointingly passed over this week.
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