Short post - 07/17/15

This will have to be brief...

In previous posts the past several weeks, I discussed a cooler and wetter period that was expected.  Well, the wetter worked out across the central part of the country.  But the cooler?  Yeah, cooler by July standards but not that much.

Looking at the satellite image from this afternoon (click for a larger version)

 

The moisture from the North American Monsoon was stretched across New Mexico, Colorado and into Kansas.  A disturbance in the flow was located across southern New Mexico and will be responsible for another round of thunderstorms (at least scattered) tonight.

The cooler weather that I had discussed previously was to come from the anomalously strong upper system that this afternoon was located across south central Canada.  It certainly IS in position to bring cooler weather.  But, it's a battle between the colder airmass and the summer upper level high (currently located across north Texas).  In the summer it is a battle for cold air to move too far south.  If this was winter, Brrrrrr.   But still, there will be a cold front moving into the central part of the country.  After high temperatures on Saturday that will be well into the 90s and perhaps as hot as 105, there will be a cool down Sunday into Tuesday with temperatures expected to be in the upper 80s to lower 90s.

With the arrival of the front and tropical monsoon moisture in place, there should be another round or two of at least scattered thunderstorms.

The Weather Prediction Center offers their forecast for the next 7 days....

I will caution you that the depiction could be modified significantly as remnants of what was Hurricane Dolores enters the equation.   On the satellite image you can see the tropical storms position headed towards Baja California.  The remnants (and additional tropical moisture) will certainly enhance rainfall amounts across the desert southwest, but "maybe" even into the plains by Monday or Tuesday.  

I'll try and update this blog on Monday to give an idea of what might happen.  I will also look into a potential heat wave that could be developing later next week and into the following week.  I'm not sold on it yet, but it's getting my attention.