JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Updated every day through Nov. 30th - “Talking the Tropics With Mike”.
Smoke returned to Jacksonville/NE Fl./SE Ga. Tue., 07/18 & will hang around a couple of days before thinning or moving out. The smoke is courtesy the continued extensive wildfires in Canada. There’s been just enough of a dip in the jet stream to draw the smoke southward into the Southeast U.S. The smoke is at high levels so is not adversely impacting air quality. The smoke does make for colorful sunrises & sunsets. The images below are from Tue., July 18th:
Sunset photo from Action News John Bachman:
First Alert Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Trevor Gibbs found an interesting way - a wind rose provided by NOAA - to display the avg. wind per day over the past 4 weeks. There has been a preponderance of days with winds offshore - out of the southwest. This has pushed the heat all the way to the beaches on many days but also helped to develop heavy afternoon storms more often than not. The steady offshore flow also initially kept near shore ocean waters cooler than avg. But the hot air temps. have eventually compensated pushing water temps. into the mid to upper 80s from early through mid July.
Temps. the last month at JIA (pink & light blue are the record high/low temp. respectively, green is avg.):
First Alert Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Garrett Bedenbaugh & Marithza Ross came up with some interesting info. regarding the daily record high for July 18th. The record of 100 degrees was set in 1887. The war department provided weather surface maps in the late 19th Century & is shown below in the first two images. The set-up showed a broad, dry westerly (offshore) flow. Also of interest - a drawing of d’town Jacksonville which was much smaller compared to today & primarily located north of the St. Johns River. This was the location of the official city thermometer vs. the Int’l. Airport where the official temp. readings have been taken since 1971.
An interesting history of our Jax N.W.S. where weather records go back to 1871. The official reporting site at the JIA goes back to 1971.
A viewer requested me to post info. on a cloud chart, so here ya’ go (from NOAA):