Potential Heat Wave All But Assures 16th Straight Warmer-Than-Normal Month

A potential heat wave through the upcoming weekend is in our local weather forecast for southwestern Connecticut. Remember, there must be at least three consecutive days of temperatures of 90 degrees or more to classify as on official heat wave. Today will be mostly sunny and quite warm with afternoon high temperatures in the mid 80s to close to 90 degrees. A warm front arrives late tonight, and that will bring hot and humid air to the region tomorrow.

The extended forecast all but assures the region of 16 straight months of warmer-than-normal temperatures. That's quite a streak. The last time we had a cooler-than-normal month was in February of 2011 when the average temperature was 0.4 degrees below normal. I wasn't so sure June would be warmer-than-normal two weeks ago. You may recall that we had a stretch of eight out of nine cooler-than-normal temperatures from June 11 through June 19. In fact, daily average temperatures were at or below normal 12 of the first 19 days this month.

Wednesday's high temperature at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford climbed to 85 degrees, which is five degrees above the normal high for June 27. The low temperature of 62 was actually two degrees cooler-than-normal. However, the average temperature for the day was 74 degrees, two degrees above normal. Thus far this month, the average temperature is 68.7 degrees, which is 0.4 degrees above normal. That number will only get higher over the next couple of days.

Take a look at the temperature forecast maps for the next two weeks days. The impending stretch of hot weather to close the month will no doubt put us over the top once again. Mean surfaces temperatures will be between 70 and 80 degrees each of the next two weeks with the temperature anamoly over the next seven days, from June 28 through July 5, running about four degrees above normal. Click on the photo to enlarge each of the maps.

Today's weather will be quite warm, but the humidity will be low for one more day. We can expect mostly sunny skies with a high temperature in the mid-to-upper 80s. Tonight will become mostly cloudy as a warm front approaches, triggering a shower or thunderstorm late. It will become muggy and warm with lows of 66 to 71 degrees. After an early shower or storm tomorrow, we'll have a hazy, hot, and humid day with highs in the lower 90s. A cold front arrives early Saturday, so that should be the better of the two weekend days, although it will still be hot and slightly less humid.

Paul