Dalhart Weather Review
By Aaron Graves
Summer officially begins June 21, with the solstice scheduled to “happen” at 6:51 a.m. True - it may not be as exciting as the World Cup - nobody is going to yell “GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!” But it is nice to know that our solar system still functions as designed. From our standpoint, the sun appears to stop drifting northward on a daily basis (thus the name solstice - from the Latin words “sol”, which means “sun”, and “stitium”, which means “to stop”).
Actually, the sun is not moving, we are. The northern hemisphere of the earth is tilted towards the sun at this time of year, giving us more hours of daylight than darkness. As the earth continues it’s orbit of the sun, the northern hemisphere will eventually tilt away by the time the winter solstice arrives. Thus, over the next several months, the sun will appear to drift southward on a daily basis, and our daylight hours will grow shorter.
We enjoy a variety of weather and seasons because of the earth’s tilt. Our warm, sunny days of summer will yield to the majesty of fall. The hush of winter, when the ground rests under a blanket of snow, will give way to the excitement of spring. The cycle of the seasons will continue on for hundreds of thousands of years without us having to do a thing about it. No maintenance is required on our part.
Such is the design of the natural world around us. It is a design so evident that scientists rely on it. We know when the summer solstice will take place this year because of the mathematical, clockwork-like accuracy of our solar system. Even for something as complicated and seemingly chaotic as our atmosphere, scientists have found a way to express its components mathematically so that supercomputers can help generate weather forecasts with increasing accuracy.
And, speaking solely for myself, when I see evidence of design, I see evidence of a Designer. But that is another topic for a different article. Feel free to ask me about it, though. I enjoy nothing more than talking about the beauty of the world around us.
Speaking of which, Dalhart has gone green. Green as far as the eye can see thanks to two incredibly rainy weekends. Storms continued to roll across the Texas panhandle last week, but no rain fell in Dalhart. Temperatures were pleasantly warm, with daytime highs in the 80's and 90's.
We might see a thunderstorm or two over the next few days. We have a 20% chance of storms forecast today through Friday, and again on Sunday. Temperatures will continue to stay at or above 90 degrees.
High and low temps the past week
June 10: 82, 48
June 11: 94, 56
June 12: 76, 60
June 13: 85, 57
June 14: 93, 60
June 15: 85, 55
June 16: 95, 65
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