10:30 AM (Friday) | *Hottest weather so far this season begins this weekend and continues through the middle of next week*

High pressure ridging will dominate the scene in the Great Lakes/Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US over the next five days in what will be the hottest stretch of weather so far this season for that part of the nation. Map courtesy NOAA, tropicaltidbits.com

Overview

We are approaching the climatologically warmest time of the year for the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US/Great Lakes regions of the country and it looks the weather pattern will live up to those long-term averages.  The hottest weather of the season so far will begin this weekend and continue through the middle of next week.  The hottest days during this stretch for the I-95 corridor will likely turn out to be Sunday and Monday when temperatures should climb to the mid and upper 90’s in the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC-Boston corridor. 

High temperatures on Saturday will exceed 90 degrees (F) in a wide part of the country extending from coast-to-coast. Map courtesy weathermodels.com (Dr. Ryan Maue, Twitter), NOAA

Details

The ingredients are coming together for an extended period of hot weather in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US/Great Lakes regions beginning this weekend and continuing into the middle part of next week.  High pressure will intensify in the upper part of the atmosphere and be centered right on top of the northeastern quadrant of the nation over the next five days.  In addition, surface high pressure that has been centered over both the Northeast US and Southeast US in recent days will consolidate over the western Atlantic Ocean this week in the all-too familiar “Bermuda-high” position.  Since winds blow clockwise around high pressure system in the Northern Hemisphere, southwesterly flow will form on its back side and pump hot and humid air into the northeastern part of the nation from the south-central states.  

In addition to high pressure ridging in the upper part of the atmosphere, surface high pressure will develop in the familiar “Bermuda-high” position. These two ingredients will play a big role in this hot stretch of weather coming to much of the eastern half of the nation. Map courtesy NOAA, tropicaltidbits.com

The last few days have been moderately warm in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US and today will be kind of a transition day to the heat that will arrive on Saturday and persist into the middle of next week.  The most intense heat during this extended stretch of hot weather may very well take place on Sunday and Monday in the I-95 corridor from DC-to-Philly-to-NYC-Boston.  High temperatures on both afternoons are likely to climb to the mid and upper 90’s which is well above normal - even for the climatologically-speaking warmest time period of the year.  One other note, don’t expect much relief at night when it comes to temperatures as overnight lows on both Sunday and Monday nights will likely do not better than the mid and upper 70’s in much of the urban corridor along Route I-95. 

In terms of rainfall, there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms today as we transition from the moderate warmth of yesterday to the high heat expected by later tomorrow.  As we go through the upcoming weekend, however, showers and thunderstorms will become very sparse with only a slight chance at any given spot in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US.  The mainly rain-free will be one result of the high pressure dominating the scene at all levels of the atmosphere. The chance for showers and thunderstorms will increase as we get into the early part of next week.  A weak cool front will approach the area on Monday and eventually stall over the region leading to an increased chance of showers and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

Looking ahead, there is some relief in sight from this upcoming stretch of hot weather that begins this weekend and persists through the middle of next week.  Though it will lose much of its punch, a cooler-than-normal air mass will move across the Great Lakes region by the middle of next week and it should have enough push to filter into the northeastern states by the late week.  The chance of showers and thunderstorms will likely increase again with the approach of that next frontal system probably in the Wednesday night/Thursday time frame. 

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Perspecta, Inc.
perspectaweather.com

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Video discussion: