Smith County Weather Report – July 30, 2020

Showers and thunderstorms will continue to be likely through Saturday and a 40% chance will Linger on Sunday and Monday so there is plenty of rain to come. High temperatures are going to be pretty reasonable for the end of July and the beginning of August with highs in the mid-80s. For fans of the night sky, we have a full moon coming up on August 3rd and the exciting Perseid meteor shower on August 11th and 12th and I will have the full story on that shower next week. Jupiter will be that bright Planet you can see After Dark Rising in the southeast and then to the South and Southwest after midnight.

Did you know that heat lightning is actually lightning from a very distant thunderstorm? Back before radar was invented, folks would be sitting out in the evening on a hot night and they would see lightning flashing in the sky and they would think “well there’s no clouds so I guess it is lightning caused by the heat”. When you see it , there is a thunderstorm somewhere, lightning can be seen from a storm 60 to 100 miles away on a clear night. The old wives’ tale that a hot, humid night can generate lightning without a thunderstorm, called “heat lighting,” is exactly that–a meteorological myth. Heat lightning is just normal lightning from a thunderstorm too far away for you to hear thunder. If you have any weather questions or need weather data of any sort, I am always available at weather1@charter.net