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Interesting day yesterday with only a couple of thunderstorms around, but one of those in Jefferson County got rather mean. Be sure to scroll down a bit further to see the images sent by Skywatcher Terry Sasser. We can never be thankful enough to the weather enthusiasts who have enough interest to be storm watchers – ground truth reports remain essential to a good warning program. Thanks Terry.
The weak surface low in the northern Gulf has moved northeastward so it is no longer a player. However, in the upper atmosphere a big player in the form of an upper ridge is going to be the main feature for us for the next several days – perhaps even much of the next two weeks. The ridge builds in over the weekend and becomes planted across the eastern US. With this big ridge, the main storm track – the westerlies – are bumped northward into southern Canada.
And unfortunately, this ridge pattern aloft with a corresponding surface high over the Gulf is going to be like one of those band aids – stuck on us! The upper ridge gets stronger by mid-week, so upper 90-degree readings are likely to be with us and I would not be surprised to see several three-digit values reported.
By Saturday, the ridge migrates westward just a bit but we’ll remain pretty hot. As too showers, there is some moisture so I expect to see isolated showers each day. But these will be few and far between so most of us will remain dry.
Peering into the long range – also known as voodoo land – the ridge stays with us through much of the following week as well. The GFS is hinting at some changes toward the very end of the cycle – around August 19th – and I’m hopeful that it is right but that is too far away for me to have much confidence.
The disturbance we’ve been watching in the Caribbean has was approaching Central America having traversed nearly the whole length of the Caribbean Sea during the last couple of days. Still no signs of tropical storm formation. The projections on that disturbance actually carry it across Central America into the Pacific. Maybe it will find the right conditions and become a Pacific storm.
I’ll be filling in for Ashley Brand this weekend, so be sure to catch ABC 3340 at 6 and 10 pm today and 5 and 10 pm Sunday for the lastest news, weather, and sports. I should have another Weather Xtreme Video posted by 8 or 8:30 tomorrow morning. I hope you have a great weekend. God bless.
-Brian-
