Cheatham County Exchange
ASHLAND CITY WEATHER

All lightning requires a storm




Norris

Norris

After the lovely Labor Day weekend, there will be a slight chance of an afternoon thundershower by the middle of the week because of the heat and increasing humidity.  

A slight cooling to the low to mid 80s is expected after Sept. 7 and rain chances increase after Sept. 10 to about 40 percent.

Sunrise is now 6:14 a.m. With sunset at 7:15 p.m., you can sure notice the days are getting shorter. We are only a little over three weeks away from the beginning of autumn.

Did you know that all heat lightning is actually lightning from a thunderstorm somewhere? Back before radar 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 heat lightning.”

When you see it this summer there is a thunderstorm somewhere. Lightning can be seen from a storm 100 miles away on a clear summer night. The old tale that a hot, humid summer night can generate lightning without a thunderstorm, called “heat lightning,” is exactly that — a meteorological myth. Heat lightning is just normal lightning from a thunderstorm too far away for the sounds of thunder to be transmitted

Jupiter continues to be the bright planet shining down in the south- south western sky after sunset.

Next week I will be telling you how August finished compared to normal and talk about the extremes we have seen in September over the years. Here is a preview: we have seen everything from 100 degrees to frost during the month.

Steve Norris is certified by the National Weather Association and provides information to Emergency Management Agencies in many counties in Tennessee. You may contact him at weather1@charter.net with questions or suggest topics for his column.

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