Tuesday 9 a.m.
The upper-air current arriving in Pennsylvania this week originates over the Gulf of Mexico, so it is no surprise the main weather theme is warmer and more humid than typical for the season. However, computer models suggest that on Sunday, the flow reaching Pennsylvania will have originated in western Canada. Translation: warmer, then chillier. This video has more:
The details of the weather pattern are far less clear-cut than the overall trend. For example, there has been rain, some heavy, in a corridor extending from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Pittsburgh has been near the western edge; Philadelphia just east of the eastern edge. Farther south, violent thunderstorms developed in east-central North Carolina. Here is a map showing where precipitation was at 10 a.m. EDT.
In the Northeast, a high pressure area now in control will be reinforced by another high from northeastern Canada. In the "what could go wrong?" department, a batch of cloudiness has appeared east of New England and has been spreading southwestward toward the New Jersey coast this morning.
The clouds over parts of the region are starting to break up, a sign that the predicted drier air from the northeast is making progress.
Cloudiness covers a large area. A few pockets of clearing show up where south winds ride downhill from mountains to lowlands. Air warms and dries with descent. Notice clearing downwind (northwest of) the Smoky Mts.
So, there could be more showers at times late next week as forest we can tell. For now we are stumped. But, it is our beleaf that this weekend you will like being outside. I know a dogwood. It may be a little cool for the beech, but you can take your dog for walk in the bark. What about next weekend? Don't ax.
If the pattern turns out damp as suggested by this map for Sunday, it could turn gray and drizzly from D.C. to New York City for early next week. If the high does not move offshore and no disturbance approaches from the west, it would be sunny and warm.
Two things stand out: (1) a warmup this weekend and early next week (the top graph), and (2) the overall dryness for the weekend and early next week. This graph is for Philadelphia.
Elliot Abrams
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