Cool Air to Sweep Away Heat Wave From Chicago to DC

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

September 10,2013; 8:11PM,EDT

 

 

From Chicago to Washington, D.C. and other cities over the Plains, Midwest and East, another autumn preview will replace the late-summer heat as the week progresses.
The cool, autumnlike air will arrive in time for high school, college and professional football games this weekend. For many players and fans it will feel like football weather.
Folks who mind chilly weather will need long sleeves, jackets and sweaters from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast during the evening and early morning hours. Temperatures could even dip to frosty levels in the coldest spots of the Midwest and Northeast.

The cool wave will bring a temperature plunge of 40 to 60 degrees in some areas, comparing high temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday with anticipated low temperatures by this weekend.
The heat wave will be gradually erased from north to south over much of the Plains through Friday.
In some locations the transition to cooler weather will be marked by locally heavy, gusty thunderstorms.

Temperatures will trend downward from the 80s through the 70s around Minneapolis.
Around Omaha, Neb., 90-degree temperatures will be a thing of the past by Wednesday with highs in the 70s forecast for Friday and Saturday.
High temperatures in the Kansas City metro area will peak near 80 degrees Friday and Saturday.
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While the main thrust of the cool air will be aimed more to the east, in areas as far south as Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Little Rock, Ark., the passage of the cool front will take the edge off the heat by the weekend.
The cooler air will advance eastward across the Midwest during the middle of the week and then to the Atlantic coast at the end of the week.

After record heat around Chicago Tuesday, high temperatures will trend downward through the 80s Wednesday and Thursday. Highs will be close to 70 around Chicagoland Friday and Saturday.
It will be a similar story around Detroit and St. Louis with the cool air following record-challenging heat.
Farther east, the advancing cool air will limit 90-degree temperatures to a 1- to 3-day stretch around Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New York, Buffalo, Portland, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and others. These cities, the suburbs and the countryside in between will have the coolest weather of the season so far in the wake of the front Friday into the weekend.
Slightly cooler and less humid air will also reach across the interior South, including Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte, after a few days of late-summer heat.