Star Date 17 July 2017 Monday
Captain's Log
Happy Monday! :)
The weather pattern is pretty much stuck in a rut with the extreme heat confined to the Plains and Northern Rocky Mountains with occasional pulses of heat toward the Middle Atlantic. The extreme heat this week is in the Heartland where temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees above normal with high temps in the upper 90s to low 100s and heat indices above 110F. The Southwest Monsoon season is in full gear with a moist Southeasterly flow bringing widespread thunderstorms in the week ahead. CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW.
The tropics are a tad more active but the greatest threat is likely Hawaii late this weekend with the remnants of Cat 3 Hurricane Fernanda likely to bring heavier rainfall to the Islands, especially the Big Island. The ocean temps are generally above average in the tropics but the two Atlantic systems will have plenty of challenges if they do develop.
With the extreme heat in the Central U.S., drought conditions are worsening for the Plains and Upper Rocky Mountain states. Soil moisture levels are very dry which is having an impact on crops. In the East it's a wholesale change from last year where drought was fairly extreme and this year a very wet Summer pattern. As an example, last year here at wt360 headquarters we only had 10.11" of rain for the 1 March - 17 July period which was the driest in over 30 years; this year the 2nd wettest in 30 years with 22.55" inches of rain.
For the meteorological Summer (1 June to date), it's been cooler and wetter in the Eastern U.S. while the extreme heat and dry weather has been confined to the Upper Plains and Western U.S. The Southeast has shown the greatest year-over-year change toward cooler and wetter Summer conditions while the Northern Rockies/Plains have shown the greatest change toward hotter and drier weather. Virginia has been the one area along the East Coast that's trending hotter/drier than last year while cooler and wetter in the Northeast.
We hope you have a great week!
-Captain Kirk out.
The weather pattern is pretty much stuck in a rut with the extreme heat confined to the Plains and Northern Rocky Mountains with occasional pulses of heat toward the Middle Atlantic. The extreme heat this week is in the Heartland where temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees above normal with high temps in the upper 90s to low 100s and heat indices above 110F. The Southwest Monsoon season is in full gear with a moist Southeasterly flow bringing widespread thunderstorms in the week ahead. CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW.
The tropics are a tad more active but the greatest threat is likely Hawaii late this weekend with the remnants of Cat 3 Hurricane Fernanda likely to bring heavier rainfall to the Islands, especially the Big Island. The ocean temps are generally above average in the tropics but the two Atlantic systems will have plenty of challenges if they do develop.
With the extreme heat in the Central U.S., drought conditions are worsening for the Plains and Upper Rocky Mountain states. Soil moisture levels are very dry which is having an impact on crops. In the East it's a wholesale change from last year where drought was fairly extreme and this year a very wet Summer pattern. As an example, last year here at wt360 headquarters we only had 10.11" of rain for the 1 March - 17 July period which was the driest in over 30 years; this year the 2nd wettest in 30 years with 22.55" inches of rain.
For the meteorological Summer (1 June to date), it's been cooler and wetter in the Eastern U.S. while the extreme heat and dry weather has been confined to the Upper Plains and Western U.S. The Southeast has shown the greatest year-over-year change toward cooler and wetter Summer conditions while the Northern Rockies/Plains have shown the greatest change toward hotter and drier weather. Virginia has been the one area along the East Coast that's trending hotter/drier than last year while cooler and wetter in the Northeast.
We hope you have a great week!
-Captain Kirk out.