Spirit Woman

Happy summer solstice! It may be the first day of summer for those of you on the Gregorian calendar but to those of us on the Universal Solar Calendar its been summer since Day of the Iron Scepter (May 26). Today, Spirit Woman, we're 27 days into the USC summer, so the hot temperatures don't seem so unseasonably warm.

About 100 million Americans are under hot-weather advisories today as the blistering heat wave continues for its fifth straight day, evidence that summer has, if fact, been here for a while.  The risk associated with the heat index here in Atlanta is in the extreme caution range (possible risk of heat stroke, heat cramps or heat exhaustion after long exposure or exercise), although the current heat wave has largely spared the South - temperatures in much of New England were hotter than Georgia this week. 

Today's my scheduled 5-mile walk and I'll still do it despite the extreme caution warning, or to be more precise, I'll do it observing the suggested caution. I'll take the Chattahoochee trail, but I'll stick to the well-shaded, riverside part of the trail and avoid the 1-mile unshaded, inland stretch. It's really not a pleasant stretch of trail anyway - basically a clear-cut path for a Plantation Pipeline gas line. Besides, a layer of cool air usually hangs right over the water in the mountain-fed river, and a breeze is often blowing downstream. In the shade along the river, it often feels at least 5 degrees cooler than the regional temperature, while the brutal Georgia sun along the backstretch makes it feel 10 degrees warmer. I'll be okay. The forecasts show the heat index increasing over the coming week, so I'm best off walking today and taking the subsequent days as they come.

There's a low-pressure cell about 120 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida, and today the Air Force flew one of their hurricane-hunter airplanes through the area. They found 35-mph winds and a well-defined center of circulation, but decided the storm is not quite organized enough to be classified as a tropical depression. However, it's not too far off from being one and even a small increase in organization could elevate it to that status before it makes landfall in northeastern Florida or Georgia tonight.