What a Day for a New Cadillac!
Being a meteorologist, I naturally wondered what the weather was like the day that Mrs. Carey took delivery on her new Park Avenue DeVille. With the gracious assistance of the Wichita office of the National Weather Service, I have reconstructed the weather of the day!
To the right you can see the hourly observations from the then US Weather Bureau at Wichita's airport on June 25, 1963.
Overnight the weather was clear and muggy. Note from midnight to dawn the temperature stayed in the 70s, with a morning low of 73. With dew points in the upper 60s, the relative humidity was uncomfortably high, in the 80% range all night. There was a bit of a breeze, SSE to S at around 10-15mph (note the observations are in knots, not mph).
As the sun rose, the temperature quickly climbed, passing 80 by 9AM! The heat continued to build, pushing the temperature past 90 by 1PM, on the way to a high of 92. Factoring in the humidity, the heat index, or "feels like" temperature was 94-96. A few clouds popped up in the heat of the day, with "scattered" clouds reported at the 3PM, 4PM and 5PM hours. But, the day would end up with 98% of possible sunshine. The wind also picked up, going SSW at 15-25mph through the afternoon hours.
The evening saw the skies remain clear, with the temperature only slowly falling. By the time the 10PM news came on, the temperature was still a muggy 78 degrees. The breeze provided little relief from the heat, having dropped to S at 8mph.
No doubt, Mrs. Carey was very glad her new Cadillac was equipped
with factory air conditioning! The
average temperature of the day was 83,
3 degrees above normal. For more details, click on the Local Climatological Data chart to
the right to see the image large. This is best viewed with a high
bandwidth connection because in order to make the data legible, the image has to
be very large.
The National Weather Service provided a couple of other records that true weather geeks may enjoy looking at:
Explanation of weather codes used
June, 1963, Local Climatological Data (Supplement) which summarizes and gives averages for that month.
O ye beloved of God! When the winds blow severely, rains fall
fiercely, the lightning flashes, the thunder roars, the bolt descends and storms
of trial become severe, grieve not; for after this storm, verily, the divine
spring will arrive, the hills and fields will become verdant, the expanses of
grain will joyfully wave, the earth will become covered with blossoms, the trees
will be clothed with green garments and adorned with blossoms and fruits. Thus
blessings become manifest in all countries. These favors are results of those
storms and hurricanes.
The discerning man rejoiceth at the day of trials, his breast becometh dilated
at the time of severe storms, his eyes become brightened when seeing the showers
of rain and gusts of wind, whereby trees are uprooted; because he foreseeth the
result and the end, the leaves, blossoms and fruits; while the ignorant person
becometh troubled when he seeth a storm, is saddened when it raineth severely,
is terrified by the thunder and trembleth at the surging of the waves which
storm the shores.
--From the Writings of the Bahá'í Faith
