August 2011... Never Forget

I know I will never forget those dreadfully hot days of August 2011.  The intense heat hit a peak on August 3rd with the highest temperature ever recorded in Little Rock at 114 degrees.  It broke the old record of 112 degrees set on July 31st, 1986.   That's a day I also remember well.

I remember sitting at my computer on the afternoon of the 3rd logged into NWS Chat.  This is a closed chat room for the media to correspond with the National Weather Service.  It's usually used for periods of severe weather, but on this day, one of the meteorologists at the NWS was giving us real time updates on the temperature at Adams Field.

Why did I not just look at the temperature myself?  Glad you asked. LOL.  The current conditions are automatically sent once an hour, however, if the NWS wants to see an observation at any other time, they must dial in.  Yes, they must dial in!  Our federal government needs to work on that in my opinion.  That's another issue for another day.

Updates kept scrolling on the screen, 111, then a few minutes later, 112, then 113, then 114 degrees.  I was amazed.

A few days later, the intense heat and humidity came to an end and a violent thunderstorm marked that transition.  On August 8th, the high temperature reached 108 degrees.  Then a severe thunderstorm dropped the temperature down to 74 degrees in less than 1 hour.  A wind gust of 77 mph was recorded at the airport making it the 2nd highest wind gust ever recorded at Adams Field.

While it's hot now, let's be thankful it's nothing like 2011!