Northeast Late-Summer Heat, Then Strong Storms This Week

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

September 9,2013; 9:27PM,EDT

 

 

While this week started with and will likely end with cool conditions, summer heat and storms are not over yet with both for many areas of the Northeast.
After temperatures surge to 90 degrees in parts of the Northeast at midweek, locally strong thunderstorms will break the heat spanning Wednesday night into Thursday night.
A brief surge of heat will roll out of the Central states and into the East Tuesday and Wednesday.
Many major metro areas from southern New England to the mid-Atlantic, westward to the eastern Great Lakes and the eastern Ohio Valley will have one to three days of 90-degree temperatures.

Cities forecast to hit 90 degrees at midweek on one or more days include: New York City; Boston; Providence, R.I.; Hartford, Conn.; Philadelphia; Atlantic City, N.J.; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Md.; Dover, Del.; Richmond, Va.; Charleston, W.Va.; Pittsburgh; Cleveland; and Buffalo, N.Y.
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According to Northeast Weather Expert Dave Dombek, "The last time Philadelphia hit 90 degrees was on July 21, but the city will hit 90 this week, ending the more than seven-week stretch."
Dombek added that with the weather pattern this week and the lack of rain in many locations over the past couple of weeks, temperatures could over achieve.
"Like a desert, when the ground is dry, more of the sun's energy goes into heating the ground, rather than evaporating moisture," Dombek said, "A number of locations can have multiple days with highs in the 90s as a result."

Along with the heat will come moderate to high humidity, which combined with sunshine and other conditions will drive RealFeel® temperatures to near 100 degrees for a few hours during the afternoon.
The higher humidity, combined with an approaching cool front from the Canada Prairies will then help to set off locally drenching and gusty thunderstorms starting late Wednesday.

People that have flights, long-distance driving or local commutes, especially during Thursday along the I-95 corridor, could face some problems due to the weather. The activity will fire first around the Great Lakes and will then push southeastward toward the Atlantic Coast with the potential for travel delays.
A small number of locations can be hit with a severe thunderstorm during that same time that brings damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning strikes, hail and flash flooding.
Potentially the coolest air of the season so far will follow Friday into the coming weekend.