I know there’s folks out there that love warm weather.  I know there’s folks out there that love cool weather.  I’m a warm weather fan myself, but as I get older I’m less of a fan of the humidity.  This time of year the average high temperatures are in the low/mid 80s.  However, we’ve seen some pretty cool weather across Hampton Roads lately.  Highs over the weekend were in the 70s and low 80s, but we’ve had some strong/persistent northeast winds which have created some cool weather for swimming.  It also created a high threat for rip currents over the weekend.  Today we will lose the strong northeast winds and will instead see light southeast winds.  This is also lowering the rip current threat to moderate today from this weekend’s high setting.  There were some showers over western Virginia this morning.  As they move east today they will get closer to the high pressure center.  So they are expected to fizzle out.  It will be a pretty nice day. 

Today's Forecast Map

 Tonight a weak disturbance will lie overhead and will produce some spotty showers.  This upper level trough will sit over us tomorrow and will create a few more showers.  However, we will also pull in the warmer temperatures with highs back in the 80s. Winds tomorrow will be southwest about 5-10mph.   The heat and the high pressure will build in further as the Midwest heat moves up over the Appalachians and pours into Hampton Roads.  Highs will be in the upper 80s to low 90s from Wednesday through the weekend. 

Warmer Weather Arrives

 I’ve been trying to think of why we have seen the cooler weather this late  Spring compared to last year.  I forgot that Alaska has had one of the coldest and snowiest Winters in years.  I assume that northern Canada had similar weather as well.  I found a cool map with the snow cover for June in Alaska and Canada from the Climate4you site which has a lot of data from NOAA.  It did show a little more snow pack this June compared to 2011, but it was far from extreme.  However, there was a lot more sea ice across the Hudson Bay this year though, and that is in-step with our cooler weather. 

Recent Snow Cover

 2011 is on the left.  2012 on the right.  White is snowpack, yellow is sea ice.  I wonder how the month of April or May compared which may be more pertinent.  Remember a lot of the cooler weather up there can’t drop straight south.  So any southward motion will have an easterly push to it due to the Westerlies.  That’s why the eastern U.S. would see the cooler weather and not the west or south central U.S.  At least in the context of the cool Canadian/Alaskan weather.  While we have had cooler weather, they have been baking in the west.  Today Denver is aiming for a high between 100 and 105 degrees.  Their average high is 83.  The dry heat has led to a very active wildfire season in the west.  We have had general wet weather in the east, but it looks like the ground is already beginning to dry out in some local areas.  Some folks are mentioning that they need rain for the lawns already after a very wet period just over a week ago.  Again, we may see a few showers tomorrow, but it shouldn’t amount to much.  Maybe a quarter of an inch.  We will probably see heavier rain Friday into Saturday with the passage of a weak cold front. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler