As we get to close the book on meteorological summer (June-August) heat it building once again across the Great Lakes and Midwest this afternoon. Temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s were commonplace in these areas today. Meanwhile, a cold front is dropping south across southern Canada.
In fact, it’s kind of a race between the hot air and the cold front. Right now, it looks as though the hot air should (barely) arrive before the cold front does. Consequently, we should manage to experience record heat (record for August 31 is 92 set in 1995) tomorrow. Even though we have the heat and the cold front the chances for any thunderstorms looks low. However, if you are travelling north tomorrow to the St. Lawrence Valley or Adirondacks there could be a few scattered thunderstorms.
The cold front will push south and allow for somewhat cooler air to arrive Saturday and Sunday and eventually stall, or stop moving, somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Meanwhile, we’ll be watching where the remnants of Hurricane Isaac travel this weekend. This evening the storm will track from Louisiana into Arkansas and remain west of the Mississippi River through Friday evening. It will make a turn east Saturday and should be located over the southern Ohio Valley region by Sunday evening. There is a distinct possibility that the tropical moisture associated with the remnants of Isaac may interact with the stalled frontal boundary. If so, the threat for widespread and locally heavier rain will be elevated early next week.
Exactly how the remnant low moves will have a large say as to whether or not we’ll receive any showers or thunderstorms late this Labor Day weekend into early next week.
