Summer rebounds in part of Northeast: Expect heat, humidity and potential downpours
A gradual warmup is coming to a large part of the Northeast for the last week of August, while some areas will have to deal with stagnating temperatures and frequent showers.
After record-breaking overnight lows this week, temperatures are set to soar back into the 80s and even 90s in parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Summer is making a big comeback in some areas of the Northeast, while others may experience an uptick in humidity levels and downpours through the last week of August, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
A heat wave will build over the Midwest into early this week. Rather than the hot air fully expanding into the Northeast, there will be limitations due to a southward dip in the jet stream that will persist in New England and just off the mid-Atlantic coast.
That jet stream dip will keep the heat away from New England and may make for cool conditions at times while bringing rounds of showers and thunderstorms. Humidity will increase to moderate levels in most cases.
Because of the wet ground in parts of New England, where downpours persist, flash flooding can occur in low-lying areas and along small streams. Portions of Connecticut were hit hard by flooding in mid-August as a ribbon of tropical moisture developed and a foot of rain fell in several hours. This time, there is no tropical supply of moisture, so rainfall should be much less intense.
While daytime highs may trend downward in New England for part of the new week, that cooling will diminish and reverse after a certain point farther to the south and west in the Northeast.
Where the summer comeback will replace fall preview
In the eastern Great Lakes, central Appalachians and much of the mid-Atlantic, a big warmup will proceed with a gradual uptick in humidity levels.
"It should feel like summertime for much of the mid-Atlantic region by early [this] week," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said, "Especially after the recent early taste of autumn conditions."
Temperatures dipped to levels typical of October in the Northeast from Tuesday to Friday, when some record lows were set.
Rather than temperatures surging well into the 90s to near 100, highs will be mainly in the 80s, with a few places reaching the low 90s this week.
New York City will be on the edge of the cool, wet pattern in New England and the warm, less rainy pattern for the mid-Atlantic, with highs in the low to mid-80s through the week.
After a strong warming trend into Monday, temperatures will plateau near to slightly above the historical average in much of the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic this week.
A couple of rounds of showers and thunderstorms will drop southward from upstate New York through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia early in the new week. A few of the thunderstorms that erupt may become briefly severe with strong wind gusts, hail and localized flash flooding.
Despite the risk of showers and thunderstorms, the warmer conditions will offer some decent late-summer beach conditions with less intense surf and rip currents than when Ernesto was offshore last weekend.
When will it feel like fall again?
Later in the week, a cold front will gradually sweep across the country and will knock down temperatures heading into the Labor Day weekend.
Temperatures could surge from the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic to New England a day or two before the arrival of the front.
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