Not Exactly The Hottest Summer Ever For Much Of The U.S.

OK, it hasn't been THAT bad, but much of
the eastern third of the nation hasn't exactly had
the hottest summer ever.  n

Except for the far western United States, it's clear this summer isn't exactly going to go down in history as the hottest ever.

Which is OK, since we've had a lot of heat and/or drought in much of the country in recent years.

Weather patterns have favored a ridge of high pressure in the western United States and a southward dip in the jet stream around the Great Lakes for a year and a half now.

That pattern breaks down every once in awhile, of course, as the weather is ever-changing. But it's remarkable how long this has been going on.

The result was a frigid winter in much of the eastern half of the nation, and now a summer in which heat waves keep getting interrupted by blasts of cool air from Canada.

Last week, an epic shot of cool air caused hundreds of record low temperatures to fall across the Midwest.

It got hot this week from the Plains to the East Coast, but more cool air is on the way.

This next batch of cool air won't be as intense as the last one, but I think it will last longer. A week or more in many places in the Midwest and Northeast.

The initial cold front with this set off severe thunderstorms in the Dakotas and Minnesota yesterday, will in the Great Lakes today, and maybe cause more severe weather in spots across northern New England on Wednesday.

Then, the cool is coming back.  Not frigid, but not oppressive, either.

Since New England is going to be on the eastern fringe of this cool air mass for several days, it might turn somewhat humid there Sunday through Tuesday with showers and thunderstorms a good bet.

Actually, where I sit in Vermont, we've been just to the east of the major cool spells all summer. Temperatures have been running at or just a scratch above normal since May here.

It's interesting that it's been so cool in the Midwest, when the world as a whole has been experiencing record warm temperatures.

There's no telling when this persistent pattern might change. Climatologists have some things figured out. But there's still a lot of research to go.