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Quiet Pattern Brings Doldrums To U.S. This Week
UPDATED 8:45 AM EST, November 4, 2009
By WeatherBug Sr. Meteorologist, James West | The quiet weather pattern continues this week following several weeks of stormy skies in the Rockies, central Plains and Northeast. An autumn tranquility of sunshine and seasonably cool temperatures remains the norm in much of the contiguous U.S.
The sunny days and cool nights found nearly from coast to coast is due to two large pockets of high pressure building across the East and Rockies respectively. These strong high pressure areas, along with a flattening jet stream high above, are keeping any storm systems at bay along the peripheries of the U.S. This will continue through Thursday, when the weakening highs allow a Pacific storm to roll into the Northwest.
The only trouble between now and Friday will be across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes and off the East Coast.
The first concern today is across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes. A weak upper-level disturbance pushing across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes is touching off a few rain showers with a bit of wintry mix in the Upper Great Lakes. As plenty of cold air streams south out of Canada, a few of the overnight showers will include snow flurries, with a dusting possible across western New York and Michigan by early Thursday.
This little bit of energy streaking across the Great Lakes will also feed an offshore storm that will develop off the East Coast Thursday, pushing northward Friday. It will be just close enough to the coast to generate showers across coastal Long Island and southern New England later Thursday and rain with gusty winds across eastern New England Friday.
The weakening Rockies high pressure will also allow the next storm to roll into the Pacific Northwest on Thursday. This will bring heavy rain to the coast, with heavy snow hitting the Cascades and Olympic mountains Thursday and Friday.
Over the weekend, the high pressure will continue to shift eastward, allowing more storms to track across the U.S.`s northern tier. This will keep the Plains, South and Southwest dry and will produce a bit of a warm up across the Southwest, southern Rockies, Texas and the Deep South. Highs this weekend will be in the 70s to near 80 degrees.
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