The End is In Sight

We're currently in the middle of a rather unusual heat wave at the end of summer.  And some records could still be reached.  For those who aren't a fan of the heat, there's good news:  an end to the heat wave is in sight.

Here's the somewhat odd weather map.  There's a skinny but strong area of high pressure over the Western US that extends up into BC and the Alaskan Panhandle. A weak low off the Washington coast is sending waves of moisture into our area at times.  This caused all of the clouds last night along with a few showers and thunderstorms.  


Meanwhile, the eastern US is still experiencing fall-like temperatures.  Low temperatures in the 40s dipped all the way south into North Carolina this morning.  State College, PA has already had 3 nights in the 30s.

By Thursday of this week, the weather pattern won't have changed a whole lot.  Another surge of cool air invades the Great Lakes region, while high pressure continues to dominate our weather.  The low off the Washington coast will drift back out to sea, keeping the clouds and showers away from our area the next few days.  This will allow daytime temperatures to climb even higher, but it will also allow us to cool off better at night.


There's a 37% chance that Spokane Airport will hit 100F on Tuesday, and a 32% chance of that happening on Wednesday.  Record highs on those days for Spokane are 97F and 98F respectively.  

By this coming weekend, cooler temperatures will be gradually working their way into our area.  The cool-down is a slow one, initially mainly caused by increased cloud cover.  But the nice thing is that there won't be any strong cold front to kick up a windy day and the associated wildfires..

Here's what the weather map is forecast to look like by the middle of next week.  Compare it to the map above and the change is obvious.  The cool air in the East is gone, as is the hot high pressure over the West.



Low chances of rain will start Friday night and increase for the weekend and next week.  It's hard to pinpoint which day(s) will see rain next week.  The US model (the GFS) is much wetter (and cooler) this weekend than its international counterparts.


Temperatures by next week should have cooled into the 70s or lower 80s.  However, the European computer forecasts are slower with the cooling, not dipping into the upper 70s until late next week.


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