Low 60s at night ... can we take this?

Nobody is suggesting we haul out the sweaters and coats, but meteorologists are predicting morning temperatures Tuesday and possibly Wednesday in the lower 60s across the Charlotte area.

And it will be in the mid 50s across the mountains.

Such is our weather for the foreseeable future, as the upper-air pattern across the United States spells an end to the torrid temperatures of June, July and early August. Will the upper 90s return this summer? Chances are they will, but not in the current forecast period of seven days.

Computer models indicate our weather during the next week, and perhaps longer, will be dominated by a trough over the Northeast or eastern Canada. That counter-clockwise flow in the atmosphere will bring air that is somewhat cooler but definitely drier.

Dew point temperatures will be in the 50s and low 60s for the next few days, and that means even the daytime forecast highs of 89 and 90 degrees Tuesday through Thursday won't seem bad at all -- especially with the cool morning weather. Today's high will be 86 degrees in Charlotte, with low humidity.

"Today will feel more like mid-September than a dog day of August," said Justin Lane, of the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C.

While it seems too early to write off a return of really hot weather, I'll remind you that it was six months ago -- almost to the day -- when the atmospheric pattern changed, and our steady stream of cold weather came to an abrupt end. After mid-February, we never dealt with cold weather again last winter.

The new pattern over the Eastern United States will bring another cold front into the area this weekend, reinforcing our milder conditions into the early part of next week, at a minimum.

Watching the tropics: So far, the 2011 tropical season is resembling the last two years, in that named storms are being steered away from the United States. For that matter, this year's storms aren't impacting land masses in the Caribbean either.

The sixth named storm of the year, Franklin, formed and dissipated over the weekend in the central Atlantic. Now we've got No. 7, Gert, and it's passing southeast of Bermuda.

The National Hurricane Center is watching another area of disturbed weather in the eastern Atlantic, and it's in an area that could pose a threat to the Caribbean. But it is merely a disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms -- hardly a threat to anyone, for now.