Thursday, September 16, 2010

We Just Can't Shake This Heat

While not nearly as bad as the summer heat in August, this is getting downright ridiculous in my opinion.  This historic summer isn't going down without a fight.

We are only about a week and a half away from yet another BIG record going down in flames.  I'm of course talking about the number of 90 degree days in a single year.  With the pattern shaping up, this will be within reach!


Also within reach, a few daily high temperatures.  Right now, the computer models have highs in the mid 90s over the next few days. Starting Saturday, the record high is in the upper 90s to 100 degrees and they were set just 5 years ago in 2005.  I remember it very well.  Everyone thought the summer heat was over and it came roaring back.  I would not be surprised to see one or two of these records fall over the same time period. 

I don't think any of the tropical systems out there will have much if any impact on our weather in the short term.  However, I have noticed the GFS keeps trying to bring in a strong system into the Gulf late this month.  Is it the model playing games or is it really seeing something?  We'll watch!

2 comments:

Chad Gardner said...

Like I said about the consecutive 90-degree day record... we've come this far, might as well smash all the records! After this summer, low 90's aren't that bad, so let's keep them going a little while longer to break the record. After that, how about a long fall with couple of months in the 70's to make up for the heat?

Weatherclipper said...

Arkansas weather continues to be hot! Yesterday was one of the hottest September days I can remember. It was just hot. High pressure, dry ground, and lower humidity are creating the perfect conditions to continue this record hot summer. Yes, it is still summer. It looks like we have a good chance to break the record of 90F degree days. It will be a close. The sun angle is getting lower everyday and we are losing heating hours with shorter days. I think we break the record and then we see temps back off out of the 90’s during the month of October. I think we will add to the record days with two of three more 90F degree days in October and possibly early November. Yes, I said we could see a 90F degree day in November. Unless we get a large tropical system in here that dumps a lot of rain, this fall will be very warm from departure from normal.

Autumnal Equinox will happen September, 23rd at 3:09am (note sure about time zone). We will see some nice fall like days this season. Dry conditions and clear skies will help temps will cool at night and warm up during the day. It will not be uncommon to see 35F degree temp swings from morning lows to day time highs. We have already seen this in September. Our lowest temp recorded at Little Rock Adams Field so far this month was 55F and our highest temp recorded has been 97F. That did not happen on the same day, but that’s a 42F degree swing. The fall foliage could be brilliant this year especially in North and West Arkansas where the summer heat did not do as much damage to the trees. For those trees that made it through the extreme heat they should produce some beautiful colors this year. You may remember last year we had too much rain and that impacted the chemical change that happens to make beautiful colors. This year the heat could impact it some, but overall it should be better than last year.

I’ll have more updates on the fall weather pattern and early look at long range winter forecast for the Mid-South in future blog post. Hint, could be early start to severe weather seasons next spring and we may have to watch for severe weather this winter at times. I am excited about the upcoming fall and winter season. Todd has a lot planned for us on the blog.

Bobby Powers / Weatherclipper

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