Dog Days Begin

 

Summer 2024 entered with a bang not a whimper. 

Yesterday, powerful storms left a path of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds, and obliterating homes. Those storms moved here into Georgia early this morning, and I awoke to an Emergency Warning System warning about a severe thunderstorm watch. The thunderstorms passed overhead between 7:00 and 10:00 am.

Amazingly, given the proximity of power lines to tree limbs, I didn't lose power (yet) but more than 187,000 are without power in Kentucky. Some 84,000 are without power in Alabama, 74,000 in West Virginia, 70,000 in Missouri, and 63,000 in Arkansas.

Warnings have been issued for more than 7 million people in Georgia and South Carolina. All told, over 120 million on the East Coast are under extreme weather alerts. Heavy rain is expected to drench the area, damage from strong winds is possible, and officials are urging people to take precautions. Intense heat will also hit parts of the South. 

Welcome to the new world of climate change and global  warming. Severe storms, rising sea levels, floods and droughts, and extreme heat are the new normal. And it will only get worse.