Monday, August 15, 2011

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.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can we take this? Absolutely. It'll be nice to maybe cut off the air conditioner and open the windows at night...maybe even run the attic fan to air the place out.

Low sixties? Bring it on.

Anonymous said...

The major heat is done. The pattern has shifted. The sound you hear is summer releasing its grip on us. Sure, we'll hit 90 again before we're done. But the endless days of 95+ with dewpoints above 75 are gone...for at least the next 9 months....

Anonymous said...

It's still too hot for my tastes (no, that's not a knock on N.C. It's too hot for my tastes everywhere). For such "cooler" temperatures and drier air compared to the steambath we've been living in, it sure doesn't feel all that much more comfortable. And my A/C has been dead since last October so it's not like I keep my house at 64 degrees or anything.

Wade said...

Interesting fact, it has been 1066 days and counting since the last hurricane to strike the US mainland. Hurricane Ike hit Texas on September 13, 2008. A good website to look at tropical activity is spaghettimodels.com. The only bad part about it is they include comments by Dr. Jeff Masters, who blames every bad thing on humans and global warming and even stretches the truth to further that idea.

Anonymous said...

+1 on Jeff Masters. I just can't read anything he writes because I want to punch my computer screen.

88F/67F towards teh end of the week. That's right on target...