Weather

It felt like fall all weekend. When is summer coming back?

Temperatures averaged way below normal this past weekend, but there is better news ahead if you like summer heat

The northeast will be the coolest spot in the eastern two-thirds of the country today. Weatherbell Analytics

July 11, 2016

This past weekend was cool and fall-like. In fact, Boston had a warmer high temperature this past Christmas than it did on Saturday. If you like summer heat, this wasn’t your kind of weekend. I was able to get the oven going, bake some cookies and wear a sweatshirt.

The good news, if you like heat and humidity, is the pattern this week looks much more like summer. I expect many of you to see temperatures well into the 80s for Tuesday, and into the 90s Wednesday through Friday. In fact, one of the models is forecasting Friday to be blistering hot, with highs in the mid to upper 90s.

Friday is still four days away and lots can change, but there are early signs of some possible thunderstorms on Friday afternoon. I only mention this for planning purposes. Travel on Fridays can be tricky any time of the year. If we see thunderstorms during the evening commute, it could certainly exacerbate the issue.

The graph below is for Norwood, but gives us a great idea of what’s to come this week. Notice how the higher temperatures are forecast to start tomorrow and continue through the rest of the week. I put an arrow on Friday showing just how hot it could be. Remember, these models are rarely exact, but the trend is something to watch.

GFS meteogram for Norwood, MA over the next 10 days.

What I don’t see over the next 10 days is any prolonged heat. Most of the guidance I review continues to show temperatures oscillating between slightly above and slightly below the region’s 30-year averages. This means there will certainly be some days exceeding 90 degrees , but they should be followed by other with highs in the 80s or perhaps even 70s on a few occasions.

We’ve seen the heat attempt to move into New England over the last several weeks, but we haven’t sustained any prolonged extreme warmth or humidity. But remember, we didn’t hit 90 degrees until the third week of July last year, and then there were many days reaching 90 throughout the rest of July, August and September. The point is our relatively cool start to July, averaging over a degree below seasonal normal readings, can quickly be erased.

There were some showers this weekend but most areas didn’t receive much rainfall, so the drought is still intact. I’ll be writing a piece on the best ways to get your plants through the drought in the next day or two.

With the exception of this past weekend, the summer of 2016 has seen some stunningly beautiful weekends. Early indications are those showers I wrote about for Friday could linger into Saturday, making Sunday the better of the two days. I’ll be updating the forecast on Twitter @growingwisdom, and be sure to read my weekend forecast each Friday morning here for all your summer planning needs.