Cooler air masses to persist into May

High-latitude blocking pattern on the North American side of the planet will continue to force cool air masses farther south than usual into at least the first 10 days of May. After that, I suspect we will see the blocking pattern breaking down and a return to a more typical may pattern for most.

I continue to be greatly concerned about the situation in the southwestern U.S. as widespread, extreme drought continues to expand. This will also just feed into the building heat across the region through early summer. There is going to be a lot of stress on the water supply with more days of record heat, I suspect.