Return to Normalcy?

I was watching The Weather Channel this morning with Jim Cantore talking about how the recent heavy rains have ended the drought in Texas & the central plains.   One of the ladies said it was nice “to return to normalcy”.   Huh?  What does that mean?   There is no “normalcy” in weather.   The averages or “normals” are determined by taking the peaks & valleys (the extremes) and averaging them out.  It rarely is normal on any given day.    But to say a “return to normalcy” implies the current CYCLES of weather have not happened before.   For example, several years ago the Southeast was experiencing a dry cycle (drought) with Lake Lanier north of Atlanta at record low levels.  Fast forward to now and the Lake has refilled after several rainy years.  Look at Texas where their dry spells dropped many lake levels to record lows.  In the past 2-3 months, a rainy cycle has refilled all lakes and eliminated all drought.    Even California is starting to see some rain during their dry time of year.  A growing El Nino is likely to curb our hurricane numbers, but it should also mean more storms returning to California this Fall and Winter.  Their rainy CYCLE will return.  Lack of rainfall has been a problem, but the main problem for California is too many people wanting to live there stressing the limited water resources available.    Think about it.  5 million population back in the 40s to 30+ million now.   You do the math.  That a huge increase in water demand.  What have the politico powers done to prepare for such increased demands?   Very little except to raise taxes…but back to weather.

 

Our rain coverage today was far less, but the intensity of the storms that developed were strong, typical of a summer afternoon.  I expect about the same coverage on Wednesday with an increase Thursday afternoon as a weak front staggers close.  If that front makes it, we could see slightly drier conditions for Friday & Saturday.  When we see few, if any showers, that usually means hotter temps.   Look for our first 90 at MSY either Friday or Saturday or both.