A strong cold front approached the region early yesterday afternoon, triggering a round of showers and thunderstorms just before 3 o'clock. Viewer Ralph Fato of Norwalk sent this unique photo to me. He wrote, "I took this picture before the line (of storms) came through and matched it with the satellite and radar photo at the time." This is unique. The radar clearly shows the approaching storms to the Northwest, and the photo shows the darkening clouds in advance of the storms. Click the photo to see a larger version.
We've had high temperatures of at least 90 degrees six times or one-third of July. The latest heat wave featured high temperatures of 91, 93, and 95 degrees Monday through Wednesday, respectively. Since June 1, we've had 10 90+ degree days at the airport which, more often than not is cooler than inland communities due to a mild sea breeze this time of the year. The average temperature thus far this month is 79.6 degrees, which is a healthy 5.8 degrees above normal. Take a look at the following graph provided by Ralph Fato.
A closer look at the weather record book reveals that we just barely missed two more official heat waves by just one degree each time. We missed a heat wave June 20 (92), June 21 (96), and June 22 (89) by one degree, and another potential heat wave was nixed by only one degree July 5 (91), July 6 (89), and July 7 (93). The first heat wave happened June 29 (91), June 30 (92), and July 1 (92).
Although cooler and less humid air has arrived this morning, we're not out of the woods as far as precipitation is concerned. The frontal boundary which pushed through the region has stalled just to our South, and that may trigger a shower or two this afternoon. We'll be on the northern edge of a wave of low pressure later tonight and tomorrow, and that will bring occasional rain and much cooler air. Tomorrow's high will only reach the low-to-mid 70s. A nicer weekend is ahead, however.
Paul
