Second warmest July

The remains of TD 5 inland over Louisiana.

Below: A few odds and ends on this sunny Tuesday morning...SB

**As a follow up to the warmest June on record on the planet, July was the second warmest on record, missing the record by a hair. The average worldwide temperature was 16.5C (61.6F) or 1.85 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. The warmest was 61.7C in 1998. In the US it was the warmest July ever. The warm and humid daytime highs were followed in many instances by record warm nights. The heat this week has been pushed into the deep south and along the Gulf coast.

**Meanwhile TD 5 has moved inland over Southeast Louisiana. This pesky depression, that refuses to die or strengthen to a named storm, seems to be on its last legs after more than two weeks meandering about. The system will produce gusty winds, and another 3 to 6 inches of rain along the Gulf coast today with flooding possible.

**I missed an historic anniversary yesterday. It was on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42, that Elvis Presley died. Now you may ask why mention this on a weather blog? Well naturally I must tie the weather into it somehow. I took a train ride with my mother and grandmother from Montreal to Ottawa for the day. It poured rain and was unseasonably cool. I remember shopping in downtown Ottawa and needing to purchase an umbrella (oh and a little yellow Tomy die cast school bus, but I digress). We heard about Elvis from my dad who picked us up at Central Station in Montreal in a driving rain that evening. A quick glance at the record books on that historic day shows 16mm of rain fell in Ottawa with a cold high of 16C, while only 4.8mm fell in Montreal, with thunder and fog and a high of 18C.

** Speaking of my Dad, regular readers know how much he influenced my interest in weather. It will be one year since his death on August 19, 2009. I still miss him everyday. You can read about him HERE