Pleasant & Cooler Weather Aloft

Good Afternoon! I hope the weekend is going well. You can feel the shift in the weather pattern to a much cooler air mass. This is just in time as the dog days of summer have now come to an end. We are certainly still in summer and the average high temperature should be around 84°. Its amazing how we went from a 98° high temperature reading on Wednesday to a high of only 77° on Friday. The low this morning dipped to its lowest reading of 58° since June 27th. Here's the observations for the past week.

	SUN	MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT
High Temp	88	89	95	98	87	77	79
Low Temp	70	65	65	69	66	63	60
Precip	1.26"	NONE	NONE	0.94"	1.47"	TRACE	NONE
Peak Wind Gust (MPH)	35	18	15	33	40	37	30

The average high for last week was 87.5° while the avg low was 65.5°. This puts the weeks avg temp at 76.5°. We picked up 3.67" of precipitation last week.



MY FORECASTED HIGHS VS. ACTUAL HIGHS:
8/1    Forecast:92 Actual:91
8/2    Forecast:98 Actual:97
8/3    Forecast:94 Actual:93
8/4    Forecast:94 Actual:94
8/5    Forecast:90 Actual:88
8/6    Forecast:89 Actual:89
8/7    Forecast:94 Actual:95
8/8    Forecast:95 Actual:98
8/9    Forecast:87 Actual:87
8/10  Forecast:79 Actual:77
8/11  Forecast:78 Actual:79

The average high for the month sits at 89.8°.
The average low for the month sits at 66.5°.
The average temp. for the month sits at 78.2°.

Today we've been under a mixture of some sunshine and clouds for the morning and early afternoon hours. The clouds are trying invade late this afternoon a we head into the evening hours. The upper level low pressure system that brought us the rainfall last week pushed its way out the state this weekend and we are under the influence of a high pressure system. This has allowed temperatures to warm a few degrees higher than yesterday with highs into the low 80s this afternoon. However, high pressure will not settle for long. In fact, its already pushed it way into Central Kentucky. Although we should stay mostly dry this evening there is a chance for some showers or weak storms to pop up late overnight lingering into Monday as a weak low passes. Not much, if any, rain will fall. Totals should be less than a quarter of an inch. I think this will be selective as to where rain falls.

Tonight, it'll be partly to mostly cloudy so visibility for the perseids meteor showers tonight will not be as great as yesterday night. The added cloud cover will add as blanket for tonight which will keep temperatures from falling back into the 50s again. Lows should be in the low to mid 60s.



We should kick off the new work week on Monday on a wet note but shouldn't be a washout. I think most rain will fall in the morning hours and end after a cold front passes but I'll keep the rain chances (to a minumum) for the rest of the day. We should be looking at plenty of dry hours in the afternoon. As I mentioned earlier expect low rainfall totals, if any. Highs for Monday and Tuesday should again top the 80s! We should be in store for a Sunny Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Afternoon. Thursday looks to be the warmest day of the week with temps pushing the 90s. I wish I could tell you this is a signal of the summer heat returning for those who love the 90s but its not. In fact, we have a strong cold front that will push through afterwards with a surface low that offers up our next chance for some srong storms on Friday. Behind this, temperatures will be much cooler for next weekend. We'll have daytime highs and morning lows more typical for late September or early October. Its like the weather jumped a calendar month ahead after such a persistent hot summer pattern. Likely, we'll continue with much cooler weather for the rest of the month. This could effect our chances for this summer to officially end as the warmest summer on record.

METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER (JUNE-JULY-AUGUST)
Its been a warm summer. We now only have 3 weeks left of meteorological summer and 6 weeks left of astronomical summer. About 86% (62 days) out of the past 72 days have been above normal. The average high for this season is 90.6 with an avg low of 67.1. This puts the avg temperature this summer (Since June 1) at 78.9° which is about 55° above normal. This season is currently the #1 warmest summer on record. Here's the Top Five list:
    2012---79.2°
1) 1874---78.6°
2) 1936---78.5°
3) 1934---78.2°
4) 2010---78.1°
5) 2011---77.6°


There isn't much heat in the long range going out 2 more weeks in Central Indiana. At the moment, it looks like summer heat has ended but I simply cannot make that official just yet. You'll have to travel out southwest to places like Vegas or Phoenix, or even down in Texas where readings of triple digit heat are still being recorded. The much cooler spots are in the Dakotas. There was a 67° high temperature reading yesterday in Aberdeen, South Dakota. At 3pm today, as I write this, the temperature there is in the low to mid 60s. Give me til the end of the week then I can have a better understanding as to where the weather is headed to finish August and open September. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @A_JayLuck for daily weather tweets and further updates. Have A Good Week!