Classic Summer Pattern

15 Comments

10:57PM

This pattern is a classic summer one. Ridge of high pressure centered from the eastern Plains to the Ohio Valley, slides a bit east at times, retrogrades a bit west other times. Center of heat stays pretty much where it has been. What does this pattern do to the Northeast? Pretty much what we have seen this week. Predominately dry and warm, brief episodes of heat when the ridge expands to the east, periodic cooling when the ridge slides back to the west and allows a trough in eastern Canada to send a spoke of energy and cooler air across the Upper Great Lakes and Northeast. And I’m not seeing any major changes in this pattern for the next 10 days. There have been some computer model runs that have shifted the ridge further east and brought more serious heat in here sometime in the next couple weeks, but this may be overdone. However, the possibility should not be completely discounted, as the heat will never really be that far away.

In the mean time, let’s look out about 1 week for the Boston area…

TONIGHT: Partly cloudy. Areas of valley, swamp, and bog fog after 2AM, dissipating at dawn. Mild and moderately humid. Low from the middle 60s inland to lower 70s Boston. Wind W under 10 MPH.

WEDNESDAY: Variably cloudy. Scattered showers and thunderstorms any time from late morning through early evening. Any thunderstorms may produce brief heavy downpours and small hail. Warm and moderately humid. High 82 to 87. Wind NW 5 to 15 MPH. Briefly strong and gusty winds are possible near any storms.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy with isolated showers early, then clearing. Cooler and drier. Low 60 to 65. Wind N 10 to 15 MPH, diminishing to under 10 mph.

THURSDAY: Sunny in the morning. Partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 74 to 79 coast, 79 to 84 inland. Wind N 5 to 15 MPH shifting to E.

THURSDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear. Patchy ground fog over wetland locations. Low 55 to 60. Wind light variable.

FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. Dry and warmer. High 80 to 85. Wind S up to 10 mph.

SATURDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 64. High 87.

SUNDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 67. High 89.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 68. High 90.

TUESDAY: Partly sunny. Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 71. High 86.

15 thoughts on “Classic Summer Pattern”

  1. NOTE: For anyone not familiar with the term “retrograde”. We use it in weather to indicate that a system will be moving to the west, or “backwards” from its usual eastward movement.

    1. Thanks TK – I was thinking that is what it meant but appreciate the clarification

      Also, when it seems that most have posted their number of days over 90, is there a way that I can get you the spreadsheet to post here so everyone has a chance to make sure their numbers are correct and that I didn’t miss anyone? Or can I paste a table myself? Not sure what blog will permit

  3. Thunderstorm Index just at a 1 today since I am not expecting severe weather. Once we get past today things are shaping up for another great stretch of summer weather before the humidity starts to build on Sunday.

  4. Not looking forward to the possibility of major heat coming later down the road. We were all concerned early on about a repeat of 2009, but now perhaps should be concerned about a repeat of 2010, if anything? We will see I guess. 🙁

  5. The latest CPC temperature outlook has a lot of red on the map in both the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlook. In addition precipitation for us during those time periods is forecasted to be below normal.

  6. Our weekend plans have made a big turnaround – instead of going to the Cape we will be heading in the opposite direction. We will be going to the Mt. Monadnock area of NH to do a little hiking. We’ve been doing a lot of walking but we haven’t hit the trails in awhile so we will try to find some relatively easy trails, if we can. We have been to the White Mtns. and did a little hiking in that area years ago but I have never been to the Mt. Monadnock area, ‘though my husband climbed it years ago. I am definitely looking forward to this trip – and taking in the sights, too. And at this point, the weather looks great.

    It isn’t bad out now – drier and not as hot as yesterday. I will be keeping my eyes to the sky today for any storms – there are showers to the south of us but it looks like heavier showers way up in nothern NY – wonder if they will make it to the Boston area.

    1. Enjoy rainshine – it’s a lovely area. It sounds like a perfect weekend for a hike and your plans sure did take an about face 🙂 My son and friends will be camping in the Pinkham notch area this weekend with friends and hiking Washington.

      1. Thanks, Vicki – I always wanted to climb Mt. Washington. Never did. Some friends have said we should just drive up. But that wouldn’t be the same – at least that’s what I think. Hope your son and friends enjoy themselves – I envy them and let us know how their weekend goes!

  7. Towering cumulus clouds developing in the western half of our sky. Meanwhile, a seabreeze has developed, so it should be interested to see what happens.

    1. Hi Coastal.

      Pretty neat when the seabreeze shows up on the radar. Well, I suppose its not fair answering the question about whether the storms are going to make it now, as its getting quite dark in Marshfield and the storms look like they are intensifying as they proceed towards the coast. So, I think they will make it through our area fairly strong. 🙂

  9. Had a brief downpour in Framingham about 30 minutes ago and is now a steady rain. No thunder/lightning.

  10. Just started to pour in Sudbury. No thunder yet. Lots of rain on the radar – and still more to the northwest. Looks like it could be a real wet evening and maybe night.

  11. Once these initial storms push through, I wonder what will happen when the feature now in Vermont rotates through. It has had the highest, coldest cloud tops all day, you can almost see a slight spin to the cloud mass and its southern edge is igniting strong thunderstorms in central VT.

Comments are closed.