FOX 8 Weather App Could Save Your Life

Since nothing is going on in the Tropics, let me tell you about my experience yesterday afternoon while golfing at Money Hill north of Abita Springs.  T-Storms started to build in all around us as we started the back nine.  Because I had the FOX 8 Weather App on my cell phone, I could follow the motion of the various cells.  Fortunately, the motion was near zero with the storms staying far enough away to keep on playing.  However, in the back of my mind was all the pictures I've seen about what lightning can do to people on the ground.

Usually, but not always, lightning strikes the tallest object.   If it's a tower or tall building, the current is directed away the structure and into the ground.  Sometimes the golf flagstick is the tallest object around, but usually it's trees.  That's why it's important NOT to shelter under a tree.   Years ago, the rule of thumb was once you saw the flash, count the seconds it takes for the thunder sound to reach you ( say 5) and then divide by 5 to get how far away the strike was (1 mile) from you.

As my golfing partners (Marvin Bernstein, Ron Swoboda & Dr. Bill Jones) reached the 16th tee box, the lightning started popping and I knew it was time to get off the course.  We finished 16 and started down 17.  The beauty of modern technology and lightning is you no longer need to count the seconds and divide by 5.  Now it's all on your cell phone IF you activate the lightning feature on the FOX 8 Weather App.  It was telling me 1.8 miles away, 1.1 miles away, 0.3 miles away, yikes let's get off the course guys.  We did and, as the bottom 2 photos above indicate, lightning can kill.  The zoomed frame shows you the people still on the course as lightning struck.  That was in Atlanta back in 2015.  Be smart, get the FOX 8 Weather App, not just for radar or hurricanes, but also for LIGHTNING.

The other big story, especially over the Northeast, is the dense smoke coming down from the Canada wild fires.  Air quality warnings are up for many states.  The bottom view even has some smoke nearing north Louisiana.

The smoke is being brought southward by a persistent upper trough over the Great Lakes into New England.  The pattern has been stalled by a low off the West Coast & a ridge in between.  You can see that reflected in the temperatures at 11 AM

 It's really chilly out west and along the NE coast.  Under the upper ridge, it'll be typical summertime.

We'll continue with daily rain chances, but there are hints next week could see an upper high build across the southern states making for a heat wave.  Joy oh joy!  Stay tuned!  & get that weather app on your phone!