Good Friday to one and all and welcome to the weekend. We have one more great today before we get in on an increase in heat and humidity this weekend that will carry us into much of next week. We will break all that down for you and take a look into the tropics as the action is really cranking up.
Let us start with the weather out there today as it should be another winner of a day. Temps in the 50s will be common this morning before we warm things back up to similar readings we had Thursday with upper 70s and low 80s. Sunny skies will prevail and humidity levels will be very low giving us a very comfy start to the weekend.
If you are interested in seeing where the temps ended up this morning across the state. Here is a morning low temp map from the Kentucky Mesonet…
The rest of the weekend will feature high pressure slipping off to our east. Temps will warm well into the 80s for Saturday and will likely hit the 90s out west. Everyone should be in the upper 80s to low 90s for Sunday into early next week for highs as August goes out with a hot bang.
There are some differences in the models for late weekend into the first half of the new week in terms of rain chances. The GFS is basically dry as a bone during this time… but the NAM and Canadian Models continue to show a nice Gulf of Mexico moisture plume aimed toward parts of the region. Take a look…
NAM
Canadian
Most of the showers and storms are pointed toward the western sections of the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys… but the models do show some scattered stuff farther east. I guess we will see how it plays out… but some scattered shower and storm action certainly cannot be ruled out into early next week.
The heat will likely stick around into the middle of next week before a cold front swings through here by the end of the week with a better chance of rain. This should also really knock our temps down as we head into Labor Day Weekend.
A lot of what happens to the overall North American patter over the next few weeks will be driven by what goes on in the tropical Atlantic. We have two storms and that will likely become three at any moment. Hurricane Danielle will miss the east coast by a good margin. Soon to be Hurricane Earl is behind Danielle and Fiona is just beyond those two. What will happen with Earl and Fiona down the road? It is too soon to tell… but I would think each will have a higher chance of hitting the east coast of the US than the one before it does. In a nutshell… I believe it will be Fiona that has the best chance of threatening the United States. That doesn’t mean Earl can’t… just that I think the last of the three has the highest odds as of right now. Here is a look at the storms…
I will have updates over the weekend so check back. Have a great Friday and take care.
OK…had to comment on this…from the NHC discussion on Hurricane Danielle, which currently has estimated maximum sustained winds of 135 mph:
AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECON AIRCRAFT WILL INVESTIGATE
DANIELLE THIS AFTERNOON AND PROVIDE A MORE ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF
THE INTENSITY.
My question: WHY!?!? It is NOT a threat to the United States…it is not even a serious threat to Bermuda (THE CYCLONE IS STILL EXPECTED TO REMAIN WELL TO THE EAST OF BERMUDA).
I am curious as to exactly how strong the cyclone is as the NHC folks are to be sure, but to me it sounds like this is a big-time waste of money to fly a plane out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to investigate a hurricane that isn’t going to impact a single person on the US mainland.
And it sounds like there will be plenty of chances for recon flights in the next week or two anyway.
/rant
I agree, a big waste of money to send a plane out.
Current weather pattern is great, but sure hope we get remnants of a tropical system in here so we can get some rain. My yard is brown and crunchy.
As much as I love this weather, at this point I’d rather have 98 degrees AND rain.
My guess it could be for two reasons: 1.) research
2.) Commercial shipping interests use NHC forcasts. Although it may not bother anyone on the mainland…commercial intersts out to sea have some direct interests on shores.
jmho
Agreed. We’ve GOT to get some wetness in here or the growing season is going to end early and not because of frost.
The rain, yeah. 98 degrees? No thanks!