Rockin' & Rollin' On (And In) The River

A couple more pics from Sunday's dive with the Riverbend venue in the background. I enjoyed the "fish eye" view from the water's surface, and I hope some of you like these snapshots as well.
All eyes are on "Alberto" this morning, which remains a tropical storm. While there's some coastal flooding, heavy rains, and sustained winds around 65 mph, this has not been a big storm by any means. But there's been a tidal wave of coverage of this year's first named storm. Yesterday afternoon while channel surfing, I was swept away by the crest of the wave. Everywhere I turned it was all "Alberto", all the time. I think TV-Land was even running classic Alberto VO5 commercials.
We are seeing the northern cloud shield from "Alberto" over our heads. And early this morning there are even a couple of small showers moving past Calhoun, GA and inbetween Resaca and Dalton, GA. There may be some spotty showers south of a LaFayette to Ellijay line today, but for the most part "Alberto" will be a missed rainfall opportunity for us. That's good news for Friends Of The Festival and the rest of Riverbend 2006, but the prospects for rain are looking grim this month. And if we keep going down this rather dusty road, we could wrap up the month of June as much as 3.50" or slightly more below normal. To date we are already -1.54".
Long term that could lay the foundation for some real heat to hit. We have not had a 100 degree day in Chattanooga since 1999. Usually we have moist enough ground and high enough humidity from hitting the century mark. But July, August, and September of 1999 were all 2 to 3 inches drier than average and BOOM! 6 days at or above 100.

• 9/6/99 100
• 9/5/99 101
• 8/19/99 101
• 8/18/99 101
• 8/13/99 101
• 8/12/99 100

And from July 18th through Sept. 12th, some 61 days were well into the 90s with only 4 days in the 80s!!!!

So while I wouldn't want anyone to suffer another strike from a tropical storm or hurricane, a nice depression moving up from the central Gulf coast could pull our bacon out of the fire this summer.

Today - Breezy with high and mid clouds overhead. A spotty shower or two south. Highs near 86.

Tonight - Clear and a bit sticky with lows near 64.

Wednesday - Mostly sunny and warmer with highs near 88.

Thursday - Sunny with highs near 89.

Friday - Sunny with highs near 91.

Saturday - Sunny with highs near 92.