Northeast Heat Wave Could End With Severe Weather

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

July 16,2013; 9:37PM,EDT

 

 

An end to the heat wave to the Northeast is in sight this weekend. However, thunderstorms helping to bring the change could turn violent in some areas.
Folks suffering in urban areas or with limited means to keep cool will catch a break, but not until the weekend.
The atmospheric heat pump will continue to run at full steam this week.

Actual high temperatures in most areas will continue to be in the 90s through Friday with AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures 10 to 20 degrees higher.
Changes will take place this weekend that should end the extreme heat. The pattern change should also take an edge off the humidity for a couple of days.

The high pressure system responsible for driving the heat will shift westward. As this happens, an uptick in spotty thunderstorms can occur first.

Next, as a front begins to push southeastward from central Canada, a zone of severe thunderstorms is likely to erupt from northwest to southeast spanning Friday and Saturday.
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The most common threat from the storms will be strong wind gusts, but a few locations could also be hit with flash flooding and perhaps hail.
Over the weekend, progressively less-extreme temperatures are forecast with a most noticeable drop in humidity around the Great Lakes, the interior Northeast and neighboring Canada.
The heat wave will continue Saturday over much of the mid-Atlantic and in coastal New England, before being broken Sunday.

City, State	Sat.	Sun.
Boston, Mass.	94	76
Hartford, Conn.	94	83
Providence, R.I.	91	82
Albany, N.Y.	89	79
New York, N.Y.	90	86
Trenton, N.J.	92	85
Philadelphia, Pa.	94	87
Pittsburgh, Pa.	84	80
Detroit, Mich.	83	79
Chicago, Ill.	82	76
Cleveland, Ohio	81	77
Charleston, W.Va.	89	83
Dover, Del.	91	85
Baltimore, Md.	95	89
Washington, D.C.	94	86
Richmond, Va.	94	86

Because of the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean this time of year, the advance of much cooler, less humid air from the northwest may slow to a crawl and could stall over the mid-Atlantic and southeastern New England.
Despite this, along the coast for example, 90- to 95-degree temperatures and high humidity are likely to be replaced with 80- to 85-degree temperatures and moderate humidity for a few days.
If the front were to move along a bit more, then the cooling and the drop in humidity could be more pronounced along the coast.
Beyond the weekend, humidity levels are likely to creep back up throughout the region and the pattern of frequent showers and thunderstorms could follow later in July into August.
At this stage, it does not appear that temperatures will be in a hurry to build back and stay for an extended period like it did during this week.