Tropical Storm Andres/Getting Hotter/Summer Really Begins

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Tropical Storm Andres formed today off the west coast of Mexico. See figures at right. According to The National Hurricane Center, the storm will strengthen to close to a hurricane on Tuesday. But it looks like a direct hit is unlikely before it turns left and heads out to sea and weakens.

22 tornado reports, mainly in Iowa today. The storms formed along the edge of the ridge that is scorching the south central US. The ridge will flatten some this week. All that means is that it will get hotter further north out west and out east. On Monday, look for some severe weather in the midwest. There will also be some thunderstorms over the Rockies and Florida. Highs will be in the 90s as far north as Minnesota. Highs will be in the 60s and 70s along the west coast, the northwest and the northeast.

Houston hit 98 this Sunday (the 10th day in a row of 97 or 98). Look for 100 as very possible mid-week. Models hint as a trough of low pressure that might bring some rain June 30th or July 1st. But the majority of the action looks to be well south of here. Houston is now almost 6 inches behind for the year on rainfall while Galveston is 8 inches behind.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Let's do father or papá, pronounced pah-PAH. This is the day we show our papá how much we love him.

Members of the family are very important to children. That's why we introduce those terms first in our award winning, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volume 1, from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/

AND MORE

Summer is finally officially here! Ouch...for those of us turning into crispy critters, this is not the best news.

According to the US Naval Observatory, it began at 5:45 Universal Time (12:45 am central time). It is called the Winter Solstice. The earth's axis (from pole to pole) is tilted at 23.5 degrees relative to a line perpendicular to the line connecting to the sun. In summer that 23.5 degree angle has the North Pole tilted toward the sun at an angle of 23.5 degrees. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun makes its highest path across the sky and thus, this is considered the day of the year with the longest amount of daylight. Please note that the length of days just before and after this point are nearly equal. But technically, from this point on, the days will slowly start to get shorter. The speed with which the length of day decreases will increase as we get closer to the autumnal equinox (the start of fall).

For all of you weather lovers (not just meteorologists), you are invited to attend the next meeting (Thursday June 25th) of the Houston Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. Dinner will be held at the Amazon Grill on Kirby near Rice Village, starting at 6:00. After dinner, we will move to the Carriage House meeting room in the Clayton Library near the Museum District, where the meeting will start at 7:00 pm.

In closing, a reflection on Father's Day. My father is no longer alive. Alzheimer's took him more than 7 years ago. He accepted his long decline, saying it didn't hurt. I will always remember his brave example. He never complained, but he did acknowledge when he didn't like something. Like one time, I took his keys away when we needed to go to the grocery store. As we drove, he sat there quietly, pondering. When we stopped, he asked me, "Why wouldn't you let me drive?" I said "Because your memory isn't very good anymore...you might forget to follow a safety rule and someone could get hurt". He sat there for a few seconds and I didn't know if he was going to get angry or what. You see, he just loved to drive. He had a job which required him to drive and that was just great to him. Well, finally he said, "Well that just stinks, but okay." And that was that. He was big about driving safely and by the rules. So, he could accept that...thank goodness. I think one reason he didn't feel sorry for himself is that he didn't have any sense of entitlement at all. As a matter of fact, he accepted that sometimes bad things happen. He once told me, "Life's not fair". At the time, I didn't get it. I just thought whatever. Now I see so clearly why that simple sentence is such a gem. If you accept that life is not fair, you can get over stewing about every bad thing that happens and you can get on with being grateful for all the good things you do have. Thanks Dad. You were a quiet man but when you spoke, you had a lot of worthwhile things to say. I love you and I miss you.

Have a great week everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman