Plan B for Obama's speech?

A couple reports have emerged in the past 24 hours that Democratic National Convention officials have a back-up plan, in case bad weather hits Charlotte next Thursday for the outdoor nomination acceptance speech by President Obama.

Of course, those reports came about the same time as meteorologists began forecasting nice weather for the event, at Bank of America Stadium.

We'll get to the forecast -- and the rest of the Labor Day and DNC forecast -- later.  First, for that contingency plan.

A couple of blogs and CNN are reporting that convention officials have a plan, in case of bad weather, and they'll announce it closer to the time of the convention -- should inclement weather appear likely.

"Of course, there's some conversations about contingency plans," the official told CNN.

From what I've read, the plan isn't to move the event.  It basically calls for using the same protocol used by the Panthers.  In other words, if it rains, suck it up.  If there's lightning, head for cover. The guess is that the program would be resumed when the storm passes.

Hmm ... I hope the Weather Guy didn't scare them.

Originally, forecasters were talking about a high likelihood of showers and thunderstorms throughout next week, with left-over moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, and from a possible low pressure system forming along the coast.

The computer models don't seem to be showing that coastal low any more, so the big concern seems to be Isaac's moisture. The current thinking from the National Weather Service is that the shower-thunderstorm threat will be gone by the middle of next week, but they're not willing to bet the house on it.

As I've written several times since early August, we've been stuck in a persistent pattern this summer in which cold fronts advance southward, stall in our area, and produce unsettled weather. It's because much of the East has been wedged between strong high pressure to the west (responsible for the drought in the Plains) and another big high over the Atlantic.

We occasionally get two- or three-day stretches of storm-free weather, but most of the summer has been unsettled.

Weather Service meteorologists at the office in Greer, S.C., think Isaac's remnants will give us a good drenching Sunday (especially later in the day) and Monday. Afterwards, they think, rain chances will lessen.

For the record ... this will be the fourth outdoor acceptance speech by a presidential candidate. The others:

1936 -- Franklin Roosevelt, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

1960 -- John Kennedy, at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.

2008 -- Barack Obama, at Ivesco Field in Denver.