Summer hangs on in central, eastern USA
Records may fall; bitter cold, snow expected in West
Summerlike warmth will surge back across the Midwest and Northeast during the first week of October as high temperatures soar well into the 80s.
Some record high temperatures may be challenged, AccuWeather said. High temperatures should be up to 20 degrees above average from the mid-Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes and the interior Northeast.
That warmth will spread to much of the East Coast later in the week.
The warmth will be courtesy of a “heat dome,” which features a sprawling area of high pressure about 20,000 feet high in the atmosphere, according to the Capital Weather Gang. Under the dome, air sinks, gets compressed and, ultimately, cooks the ground.
Perhaps anticipating Halloween, Guy Walton, a former Weather Channel meteorologist, called the weather pattern “warm, weird and spooky.”
“If verified, this would be the strongest and most widespread heat dome in early October that I have seen in my 35-year career over the continental United States,” Walton noted on his blog.
Fortunately, when compared to the heat wave from late September, this one should feature lower levels of humidity. Temperatures also will not be as hot because the sun’s intensity continues to decrease as it sinks lower in the sky each day.
Along with the warmth comes a continued stretch of very dry weather. Though drought conditions are not quite in place, many cities are running several inches below normal in terms of rainfall over the past few months, AccuWeather said. Some of the major cities with rainfall deficits include Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Providence, New York City and Syracuse, N.Y.
WESTERN SNOW AND COLD
Meanwhile, portions of the West mountains will see heavy snow and bitter cold this week. Much of the Intermountain West will have snow in the higher terrain over the next few days, and a vast portion of Montana will get strong winds and heavy snow, the National Weather Service said.
Some of the highest peaks of Wyoming’s Tetons and Bighorn Mountains may pick up a foot of snow, the Weather Channel said.
Winter storm watches and warnings are in effect for portions of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.
“Temperatures are expected to run 20 to as much as 35 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, with record-low temperatures likely in many locations across the northern Rockies through midweek,” AccuWeather meteorologist Kyle Elliott said.
TROPICAL TROUBLE?
Hurricane season may not be over yet. Disorganized showers and thunderstorms across portions of the Yucatan Peninsula, Central America and the northwestern Caribbean
Sea could develop into a tropical depression or storm by the end of the week or this weekend while it drifts northward into the southern Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.