WEATHER BLOG: Labor Day
A very strong ridge of high pressure continues to dominate the weather pattern across the Eastern Region on this Labor Day... As the core of this high pressure system remains anchored over the western Atlantic the next few days, we expect unseasonably hot weather through midweek... The humidity will also tend to rise over the next 36 hours... Most dewpoint temperatures will climb well into the 60s tomorrow afternoon... So, with record maximum temperatures for tomorrow's date getting challenged in various places, it will "feel like" its in the mid or even upper 90s Tuesday afternoon...
Our lack of significant rain over the past few weeks is certainly one of the things we're taking into account when making temperature forecasts for the next few days -- some of the numerical guidance looks like it has a cool bias, since normal highs this time of year are in the upper 70s and lower 80s region wide... Most temperatures will be close to 90 degrees later today, then these are expected to peak in the low and mid 90s tomorrow... Wednesday will still be a hot day, but some clouds will probably keep temperatures from being as high as tomorrow's...
The next cool front, which is expected to trigger a couple of showers and thunderstorms along the East Coast late this week, will move very slowly across the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes the next couple of days... And as the ridge of high pressure in the Atlantic starts to slowly loosen its grip on the eastern third of the nation during midweek, a 'pre-frontal trough' is expected to form close to the Appalachians on Wednesday... As a result, a few spots in the higher terrain located well north and west of the I-95 corridor will probably get a shower or thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon or early Wednesday night.. But, these are not expected to be widespread, and we don't anticipate any rain will reach the big cities or the coastline before it dissipates early Wednesday night... Along the coastal plain, Thursday is 'a much safer bet' for seeing showers and a thunderstorm at this point...
Despite Thursday's cloud cover and our much greater potential for getting rain, it'll still be quite warm and humid with most temperatures reaching the mid and upper 80s... And, the general slow movement of the approaching front will make it necessary for us to also address a few showers and a thunderstorm on both Thursday night and Friday... We still expect to step down into a seasonably cooler pattern Friday and Saturday, and a shower still can't be ruled out on Saturday -- especially during the morning and in coastal communities... Have a good day!!
