Why Hasn’t it Rained?

I’ve been getting asked by a few readers about the recent lack of good heavy rains. More than a few readers are concerned with their tanks running dry or even the possibility of their wells drying up. But that is probably out of the question unless we get a substantial drought. By this time this year, with all of the hurricanes, you would think one would make its way over here and give us a good rain. But all of them just seem to have an eye for Louisiana.

From the data it seems the answer is a combination of a few factors. Like I stated in a previous article, we are going through a state of La Niña which dries us out in the south. It also puts an upper atmospheric barrier around us by blowing a consistent wind from west to east over the south that slows down most Gulf systems that try to come our way. The effect that we have been seeing from it this year is that it is steering these big Gulf systems east and back towards the Atlantic.

It is also a bit up to fate and luck as these are somewhat of guesstimations on my part. 2020 has been a crazy year in general. In conclusion the main reasons we have not been getting the rain we’ve needed is due to upper level atmospheric movements La Niña and sheer bad luck.

With this first week of November come and gone with all of 2020-ness that it brings it finally seems that temps are leveling out into shorts and sweater weather with lows in the 60’s and highs in the mid 80’s. A possibility of a cold front coming through this Saturday could drop the temps into the high 40’s. On the 11th and 12th we will be able to see the Northern Taudis meteor shower, which due to the thin crescent moon on those nights will be easy to see just after midnight. On the 16th and 17th we will have the Leonids meteor shower. This meteor shower will have a high amount of meteors and be perfect to see on the night of the 16th going into the morning of the 17th past midnight. Thanks and Gig’em!

Borgstedte is a meterology major at Texas A&M University. Email him at tomy3290@gmail.com.