While August was the rainiest month ever, last month's temperature wasn't nearly as extreme. The average temperature for the month was a measly 0.1 degrees warmer than normal. Still, that's enough to make August the fifth consecutive month with an above average temperature. Depending on how fast the clouds arrive this afternoon that barely above average pace may or may not continue today. If the clouds hold off a while we should reach the lower 80s, but it's looking more and more like the upper 70s.
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Results tagged “humid”
Cold Front Labors To Arrive Over Holiday Weekend
More Lightning Possible Tonight, Tomorrow, And Sunday
That was a great lightning show last night, wasn't it? Despite the dramatics, only JFK reported more than a few drops of rain in the city. If you missed the show there will be another chance of thunderstorms tonight. A deep layer of warm, moist air is moving up from the south and that is going to get nudged later today by a fraying cold front approaching from the west. Meteorologists like to calculate a thing called CAPE, for Convective Available Potential Energy, to see how likely it is for thunderstorms to occur. The local Weather Service says today's CAPE will be 1500-2500 J/kg, which makes the atmosphere moderately unstable. To translate, that amount of energy is roughly equivalent to the number of calories in half a stick of butter for every cubic yard of air within a couple thousand feet of the ground. That's enough to get some scattered, but intense, showers and thunderstorms brewing starting this afternoon. Today's high will be in the muggy mid 80s.
August Starts Hot And Stormy
Last month was the fifth warmest July, and sixth warmest month, recorded in Central Park since weather observations began more than 140 years ago. Fourteen days reached at least 90 degrees, two reached 100, and those latter two were both record breakers. Five out of the seven months this year have been warmer than normal, including the last four months straight.
Dry Weather Today, Humidity Returns Tomorrow
In addition to being hot, this July has also been pretty dry. So far only half the normal rainfall has fallen in Central Park. Perhaps the lack of precipitation explains why we've seen almost literal panic in the streets a couple of times when it has started raining recently. There's no meteorological reason for panic today. High pressure is approaching from the west and that means a dry northwesterly breeze, sunny skies, and a near-normal high around 84 degrees.
Record Breaking Heat Today And Tomorrow
The low temperature this morning was 85 degrees. Care to guess what the normal high is for today? Climatologically, July 20-22 are the warmest days of the year, with average highs of 85 and lows of 70. Today will be about 15 degrees warmer than that. The humidity will drop a bit this afternoon, allowing the temperature to approach the record of 101 degrees under hazy smurf-blue skies. After another very warm night tomorrow's high will again approach the triple digits. Be careful everyone! There's a very slight chance of afternoon showers on Saturday.
Even Hotter Weather On The Way
Welcome to the coolest day of the week! The wind is coming out of the south today and that will bring enough "cool" air from over the ocean to keep today's high right around 90 degrees. The high humidity, however, will make it feel like the mid 90s. Take advantage of the city's cooling centers if you don't have air conditioning.
Heat Advisory In Effect Through Tomorrow
Time for a heat advisory! As expected the high pressure system that brought sunny and dry conditions to the city this weekend is moving east. That's allowing warmer, and much more humid air to move into the area. Today's high will be right around, or just a bit over, 90 degrees. Combine that with dew points in the mid 60s and the heat index will climb to 95 degrees, triggering a heat advisory.
Muggy Weather Is Here, Thunderstorms May Follow
Is everybody enjoying the tropical weather today? As the haze thins, and the air is pretty gunky, today's high should reach the lower 90s for the first time in almost a month. Where's that giant ice cube when you need it?
Steamy Weather For Memorial Day (And Manhattanhenge)
Was anyone awoken by the thunder early this Decoration Day? If you slept through it a cute little thunderstorm dropped a bit over a quarter-inch of rain around 7 a.m. That line of storms was the first notice that a cold front is about to pass south through town. With all this humidity we might see another round of storms, hopefully not Manhattanhenge obscuring ones, once the front arrives later in the afternoon. Today's high will be in the sticky upper 80s with an outside chance we'll see the first 90 degree day of the year.
Summer Weather Arrives For Memorial Day Weekend
Could Mother Nature have timed the beginning of summer weather any better? Memorial Day weekend is upon us and so is the warm weather. There's not much to say about this weekend's forecast. High pressure is ever so slowly being pushed eastward into the Atlantic by a wheezing cold front. That's resulting in a southerly breeze and a warm, humid day. Look for highs in the lower to mid 80s this afternoon under mostly sunny skies. The heat and humidity do mean there's a chance of isolated showers or thunderstorms from late this afternoon into this evening.
Sunny Start, Rainy End, To Weekend
You know that dumb old saying "if you don't like the weather in New York, wait ten minutes it will change" which people use everywhere except Honolulu, San Diego and Miami as if the weather in their city was special and unique? Well, this weekend's weather will bring a bit of truth to the cliche in the Big Apple. Thanks to a warm front that's passed through town we've got us an unusally sticky, warm fall day today. Look for a high in the mid 80s.
Cooler Days Ahead
Unless you've been living in a cave filled with the finest meats and cheeses the past couple of weeks you've probably heard of the fires in Russia. A heat wave and drought have dried up the peat bogs and forests around Moscow. It hasn't been quite so hot and dry in New York but the city is still vulnerable to wildfires. We came across a small grass fire in Morningside Park yesterday afternoon. An alert homeless man living in the park had just finished putting out the blaze (with a little assist in stomping out a few remaining embers). Be careful out there!
Same Old Heat and Humidity
Looks like there's a week of lazy, mid-summer weather in store for the next several days. The Bermuda high is in the house. That means hazy, hot and humid conditions. Today's high in the low 90s has an outside chance of being accompanied by a late afternoon shower.
Yo-Yo Weather Through the Weekend
Can you believe it? Yesterday's high was a mere 89 degrees. How disappointing! With a warm front passing through town this morning there shouldn't be a problem returning to 90 today. The heat will be accompanied by increasing clouds and a chance of scattered showers this afternoon. Showers will likely turn to thunderstorms as a cold front approaches this evening. Some of those thunderstorms may be intense.
Heat Advisory In Effect Until Sunday 6PM
As we mentioned, it's gonna be HOT this weekend. he National Weather Service has a heat advisory in effect till tomorrow night, 6 p.m.: "A WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES EAST OF THE REGION THIS MORNING...AND ALTHOUGH HUMIDITY LEVELS WILL FALL TODAY...A HOT AIRMASS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE. HUMIDITY LEVELS BEGIN TO RISE TONIGHT...AND HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST THROUGH SUNDAY." (Heat advisories go into effect when temperature and humidity combines to make it feel at least 95 degrees for two days or more.) Brace yourself for those Con Ed bills! And tomorrow's Nautica Triathlon should be something else.
Two Straight 100 Degree Days Possible
A little respite in the snow before we jump into the heat. Cooled off? Okay, here are some 100 degree fun facts. Including yesterday, the temperature in Central Park has reached the century mark 56 times since 1870. The earliest in the year it has reached 100 is June 26th and the latest is September 7th. The most popular 100-degree day is July 21st, which has seen that temperature six times. Only three days since 1870 have been warmer than yesterday.
Miserably Muggy Monday
Yuck. As mentioned earlier there is a heat advisory in effect for the city today. Hot and humid air will make for oppressive conditions outside. The muggy weather has been dragged up from the southeastern U.S. ahead of the cold front that brought tornadoes to Michigan yesterday.
Heat Advisory Today
There is a heat advisory in effect for today between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., as conditions will apparently be "even more oppressive today" than yesterday "as temperatures rising into the lower 90s and dewpoints in the lower 70s will result in heat indices in the mid to upper 90s degrees from late this morning into early this evening," according to the National Weather Service. Heat advisories are issued when high humidities are expected to combine with hot temperatures, to make it feel like it's over 95 degrees for two consecutive days. The NWS suggests people drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms, to stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Cooling centers are expected to be open today; here are more tips from the Office of Emergency Management.
Same Old Weather Again
Did anyone notice the rare weather event that happened the last two days? Wednesday and Thursday had the same high (87) and low (67) temperatures. It's like Groundhog Day in June! The last time that two consecutive days had the same high and low was the 38/31 combo back on January 6th and 7th 2009. This morning's low was 72, so there's little chance of hitting three straight days.
It's Not the Hurricane, It's the Humidity
There is a cold front ready to rescue us from this week's heat and humidity melodrama. Unfortunately the front will have to wait in the wings as diva Hurricane Bill lights up the stage. Bill isn't going to make landfall in the US but it will cause dangerous rip currents this weekend. Be careful!
Several Sunny Summer Days Ahead
In a complete turnaround from yesterday's cloudy dreariness, there should be plenty of sun today, tomorrow, and into next week. The slow-moving cold front that provided the city with 38 straight hours of overcast conditions has been replaced by a high pressure system. Highs today should be in the mostly sunny mid 80s in town and the lower 80s near the shore.
Summer Finally Brings the Heat
It's a race! Will today be the first day of the summer above 90 degrees? It all depends on who wins the heating battle. There's more than enough heat behind the warm front that has moved north through the city to warm us into the 90s. However, there's a good chance the unstable atmosphere will produce enough clouds to hold back the high temperature. The balancing point looks to be the lower 90s over much of the city, with slightly lower temperatures right along the shore. Central and southern New Jersey are likely to see highs in the mid 90s and a heat index in the lower 100s. Because this has been a cool summer, today's heat will seem worse than usual. The NYC Office of Emergency Management has tips on how to stay cool.
Textbook Summer Weather
Today's weather looks like it could have been ripped out of a meteorology textbook. The hazy, hot and humid air mass of this morning will be replaced by a cool, calm, and congenial Canadian high pressure system this evening. The cold front between the two is likely to produce thunderstorms this afternoon as it plows through the unstable air. Before the rain arrives we should have mostly sunny skies and a high in the upper 80s. Watch out for rip currents if you're going out to the beach.
Rainy End to July
If you were caught in this morning's rain and thought it was heavy wait a few hours! A warm front is slowly making it's way northward today. Showers and thunderstorms ahead of the front should arrive this afternoon and last through the evening. The expected rain is heavy enough to warrant a flash flood watch but not enough to make 2009 the wettest June-July on record! Unless three inches of rain falls, 2009 willl have to settle for second place behind 1975. Less than six inches of rain is needed by the end of August for Central Park to have its rainiest summer ever. Hip hip hooray!
Watch out for Thunderstorms
Ugh. On mornings like this, with a dew point of 74 degrees, we wish Morningside Park had a funicular. After climbing all those steps we're a big, stinky, ball of sweat. Today will remain disgusting with a dose of danger this afternoon. A host of factors: heat, extreme humidity, unstable air, an approaching cold front, etc. all point to heavy rain, and potentially severe thunderstorms this afternoon. High winds, hail, flash flooding, frequent lightning, and possibly even a tornado are not out of the question. At present it appears that the most severe weather will hit slightly north and west of the city but it is still wise to keep an eye on the sky later today.
Quieter Weather Today
In case you were worried, weather conditions today promise to be a lot quieter than yesterday, when several storm cells blasted their way through the city.. Lightning, hail, a funnel cloud in Queens and lots of downed trees and urban flooding were the rule across the region. While the city will see plenty of heat and humidity, and perhaps a late-afternoon shower, there's nothing around to kick off severe thunderstorms. If today's high reaches the Weather Channel predicted 87 degrees it will be the first warmer-than-average day this month.
Bermuda High Finally Asserts Itself
Humidity is the weather word of the week. The Bermuda High, which has been mostly absent this summer, will make its presence felt for the next several days. A weak Canadian high pressure system is keeping ol' Bermuda at bay today. Look for mostly sunny skies, increasing humidity, and a high in the lower 80s.
Muggy Today, Drier Tomorrow
Sometimes the weather can be aesthetically pleasing. Not just in a rainbow and fluffy cloud kind of way, but also in the way the jet stream and upper level disturbances interact with high and low pressure systems near the ground.
Return of the Unsettled Weather
Enjoy the sun today for tomorrow it will be gone. The high pressure system responsible for the recent streak of sunshine is moving offshore. We'll squeeze in one more pleasant day, look for a high around 80 this afternoon, before the clouds and rain return.
Watch Out For Thunderstorms
The King of Pop is gone but the rainy weather is threatening to be here forever. What looked earlier in the week to be a change toward drier weather has completely collapsed. Memories of yesterday afternoon's few short hours of beautiful sunshine will have to pull us through the next few days.
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