2009.08.01
A tale of two climate nations in July
July 2009 is truly astounding when you consider the temperature extremes in different parts of the country.
Across the northern and eastern parts ... record or near-record chill (dating almost to the Civil War in some cases), in places like Madison, Wisc., the Chicago area, Michigan, Nebraska and New York City.
Meanwhile, across the southern and western tier ... record or near-record heat at Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, the San Antonio-Austin area, and far South Texas.
As I've written before, the two extremes are linked. As hot air stagnated under strong high pressure parked over the western U.S., the clockwise circulation around that same big high continuously funneled down cool air into the northern and eastern states.
Another cold front pulled down by that northwest flow will move into our region on Sunday, triggering some showers and thunderstorms. But it probably won't bust through with a big push of cool air, so warm, humid, showery weather will likely be common in Southwest Virginia this coming week.
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Hello, Kevin and fellow bloggers. I saw a regional weather map, probably on Friday evening, showing the fact that a very large and very strong Bermuda high is sitting off the East Coast, which is contributing to our humid but coolish (well, at least not hot) weather. True? Meteorologist explained that cool fronts sometimes make it through our area but don't bring any real low humidity days because the front dissipates to our east, blocking the intrusion of truly dry air. Are we stuck in the August stickies for the foreseeable future? I looked back to the statistics for June-October 2000, and the two Julys were very similar. Both very wet and very cool. August 2000 was also cool and I think a little wet, then September was cool, too. But a huge change in October 2000. Only 0.02 inches of rain!!!
Comment by Doug Griggs — August 2, 2009 @ 6:42 am
Follow-up comment. With an El Nino in progress right now, I think the chances of SW Virginia having an extremely dry month (less than an inch of rain) through next winter are almost nil.
Comment by Doug Griggs — August 2, 2009 @ 6:45 am
The Bermuda high is there, but it's not like some situations where the high is more westerly placed or larger and becomes such a block that it actually promotes hot and somewhat drier weather by deflecting systems even farther west. We should have warm, but not hot, and sticky weather for most of the foreseeable future. Any "coolness" will only be because of clouds and rain during the day holding temperatures down, otherwise daytime highs should get to near normal in the 80s with sunshine. Nighttime lows are generally pretty muggy in this regime, sometimes not falling out of the low 70s in the Roanoke area. The exception will be after brief intrusions of somewhat cooler and drier air behind any of these fronts that push a bit farther east before hanging up. But because of the high we're unlikely to see big advances of truly cool August air into our region, though it won't be far from us over the Great Lakes and Northeast.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — August 2, 2009 @ 8:48 am
Thanks for your prompt reply to my questions, Kevin. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get that offshore high out of there by August 20 or so. "As usual, should you or any of your I.M. force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your action!" :>) Earlier today I spoke with some relatives and friends in New England, which has been abso pounded with rain. Worcester, Mass. got over 6 inches in June, but that was nothing compared to July's total of nearly 11 inches!! Longtime friend who lives in western Mass. said that farmers there are having an awful time. Crops are failing, and hay cannot be harvested because several consecutive warm sunny days are needed, and they get at most one or two like that. Highest temp in Pittsfield during July was 82, and temp never even reached 80 until the 27th.
Comment by Doug Griggs — August 2, 2009 @ 8:24 pm