Where is Summer!!!

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I'm really not in love with the summer temperatures so far. I like it HOT and having the coldest July EVER is not what I call summer. In fact we will CRUSH the old record set in 1891.

There has never been a July where we never hit 84 degrees.

So the question is WHY have we been so cold lately??

The basic reason is that air masses follow the configuration of the jet stream. The jet stream is like a giant fence keeping the large air masses penned up. NORMALLY Jet streams meander around but the last month or so the upper level jet stream has been pretty still.

The below graphic shows this.



It's not uncommon to see this but this pattern has been in place since Mid June which is unusual.

Another interesting thing is this photo from OUTER SPACE showing the hail damage from Mondays storms.

You can see the damage on the corn crops which were sheared off at the 2 foot level. Because of the lack of foliage the surface heats up faster which is causing cumulus clouds to form over the dead areas. You can't see the dead areas in Wisconsin because of the cloud build-up.

The surface temperature (temp of the ground not the air) between the hail and non-hail area is estimated to be 22 degrees.
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At home brew club last night we had to guests from London (Wisconsin) who are running the 6th Annual Home Brew Festival on August 15th. This is something I have been thinking about for a while now for Columbus. This festival has grown from a couple guys firing up a grill and inviting friends to having nine home brewers, a band, church's selling baked goods and a $15 donation with all proceeds going to the London Community Center.



Check it out. We have to get something like this going in Columbus.
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Also at the club last night we learned that a couple of people from Madison had been looking for locations in the area for a Brew Pub and were in the process of buying a gas station in Sun Prairie in the middle of the town for the pub. Just down the street from Cannery Wine and Spirits. It would be the closest Brew Pub to Columbus.

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AND ALSO at Brew Club they talked me into teaching a Brewing 101 class at Cannery Wine and Spirits. So if you are interested talk to Pat of Kathy and express interest. No date has been set yet.

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I was putting some Columbus Carriage Classic photos on a disk so I would not lose them and found a shot from the incredibly large woman category.


This is a single shot HDR photo which I don't think I'll be doing much of as it's just a little . . .too out there. Sort of experimenting that day.

OK OK - maybe I'll try it again sometime - I did learn a bunch on what NOT to do.

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I know where I was on this date 19 years ago. At the Milwaukee Brewer game watching Nolan Ryan win his 300th game. The weird thing I remember was in the 8th inning the Brewers were rallying from a 5-1 deficit and the crownd was rooting AGAINST them!

Have a nice weekend.

Rod