WEATHER BLOG: Drying Out

While a few showers and thunderstorms occurred both yesterday and early last night across parts of the mid Atlantic states and in the Northeast, most of them did not produce rain heavy enough to cause any major flooding issues… And, with the Fourth of July holiday almost here -- the outlook for the upcoming holiday is looking good for outdoor activities and fireworks displays… We talked a little bit yesterday (not at great length, because we were preoccupied by the details of the first two time periods) about a ridge of high pressure, which is currently located in the western Atlantic… The consensus amongst all of the forecasts being generated by the various global models is showing that this high pressure system will be expanding over the next few days… So, the amount of sun will be increasing, as will our daytime temperatures, and there will also be a tendency for showers and thunderstorms to become less widespread... Although we're still allowing for a couple of them today and early tonight, there should be even fewer of them tomorrow, Friday and Saturday...

The "ring of fire" effect occurs whenever showers and thunderstorms occur along the periphery of a ridge of high pressure like the one that is located over the western and central Atlantic Ocean right now... So, there should be a zone late this week which will extend from the central Gulf Coast through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys into the eastern Great Lakes that will be "fairly active"... But, unless you've got plans to spend your holiday in Buffalo, Syracuse or Pittsburgh, the weather for any of your outdoor activities won't be too much of a problem... The combination of high temperatures mostly in the mid and upper 80s today, and then the upper 80s and lower 90s on the Fourth of July and especially on Friday will make it "Feel like" its as high as the middle 90s in some places... However, most of the time will also be rain-free.