So don’t let yourself get a surprise springtime sunburn on a cool and sunny early May day! The Sun’s rays are getting more intense with each passing day, as we work toward the Summer Solstice on June 21st.
These early May days can still be quite cool. But the UV rays get stronger and stronger as we get closer to the Summer Solstice, no matter what the air temperature is! Now each day has a “solar intensity cousin” on the other side of the Solstice, and knowing it is useful because it allows you to get a handle on how strong the sun really is on a cool spring day.
The way to find a given day’s “solar cousin” is to simply count how many days you have until the Summer Solstice, and then add that same amount of days going forward, from the Solstice. And boom! You’ve got your solar cousin, in other words, the day when the sun’s intensity is the same as the day you are presently on.
Let’s do one together, right now. If you are reading this column on the day this paper came out, May 4th, we are a month and seventeen days away from June 21st, the day of the Summer Solstice. So, simply count forward from June 21st by one month and seventeen days. This gets you to August 7th. So, the May 4th solar cousin, in terms of the intensity of the UV rays striking you would be August 7th.
On to another topic. I’d like to share a few reminders as we gradually transition to summertime.
Many folks I meet are none-too-fond of humid days! If you want to know how humid it’s going to feel outside as you are getting ready for your day, the number to look at is the dew point. It can be found by googling “nws gyx rwr” then click the link at the top of the resultant list. “DP” is the header at the top the column of Dew Points.
The dew point is a number which represents the actual amount of moisture in the air. The higher the dew point, the more moisture there is in the air, and the less comfortable you feel because your sweat cannot evaporate easily, and that, the evaporation of our sweat, is how we cool down.
Most folks from The County find that it starts feeling quite muggy when the dew point gets to 60 degrees. Also, muggy weather is the kind of weather thunderstorms “like”! So I like to tell people to be more “thunderstorm aware” on muggy days. And don’t forget that if you can hear thunder, you are right then and there close enough to have been struck by the lightning which caused it.
A thunderstorm in Caribou can send a deadly lightning bolt all the way to Presque Isle! (Lightning can strike 12-15 miles away from the parent thunderstorm!) After a storm, do not resume outdoor activities until 30 minutes have passed since the last thunder was heard.
Also, be sky-aware! If you see a trend wherein the cumulus clouds (the ones that sometimes look like cotton balls) are getting taller, that is a sign that a shower or thunderstorm may develop.
I’ll close this column with an interesting climate tidbit. The hottest temperature on record in Caribou is 96 degrees, and it has happened in two different months. Before you read further, guess which two months.
The answer? May and June, even though the average temperature curve reaches its peak in mid-July (Caribou’s highest average high is 77 degrees). By the way, the words “average” or “normal” in your weather report refer to a 30-year period of weather data. It is recalculated every decade. Our normals are presently based upon weather data from 1981 through 2010.
I’ll see you back in these pages on May 18th, which will be the 36th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption. Google for video of the eruption if you’ve never seen it. Also images of the aftermath. Quite stunning.
