The heat is here and boy did it come in with a bang last night! In Syracuse there were actually 2 storms, one around 1 AM and the other one just before 4 AM. With all that lightning I'm surprised there wasn't more than 4,000 people left without power. No reports of any other severe weather (wind damage or hail). Those storms were along a warm front that cleared central New York this morning. How about this for a temperature contrast: 92 in Syracuse, 75 in Albany and 59 in Worcester, MA! In fact much of New England was socked in with clouds and fog with temperatures in the 50s or 60s.
The 92 Syracuse reached Friday tied the record for the date which was set back in 1999.
Now the heat is here the next question is how long will the heat last. The feeling is we will be around 90 degrees for the next 3 days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) then a cold front will push through Tuesday. I would characterize Tuesday as a transition day as it should still be rather humid. We have 86 in there for a high but if the front is slower in arriving Tuesday could end up around 90 again. We'll wait and see about that.
As far as more thunderstorms, there is one main triggering mechanism this weekend, a cold front. It is a very active front Friday evening with tornado watches out from Missouri all the way north into Michigan. Luckily for us, the strongest winds aloft that are helping to drive these storms will head north into Canada later tonight. This means the front will be much weaker when it comes through central New York Saturday. In fact, on my maps for tomorrow I drew it as more of a trough of low pressure or a wind shift line. We also think we have a good handle on the timing of the front (or trough) -midday- which means by mid afternoon whatever scattered thunderstorms there are will be shifting south into Pennsylvania. The boundary will head back north Sunday and will again help cause some scattered thunderstorms. As of Friday evening we aren't highlighted in any area of potential severe weather over the weekend but given all the moisture in the air there probably will be some gully-washers.
Keep cool this weekend!
Jim
