This week a rather strong cold front will march through the central and eastern U.S. displacing the subtropical ridge along with the excessive heat that has been plaguing much of the Midwest and the Great Plains, westward to the Rocky Mtn states. The result will be much cooler temps for the afore mentioned regions. This front is quite unseasonable for late July/early August standards in terms of its punch and southward extent.
Now, Im curious as to how many of you all remember what the overall ConUS weather was like this time last year. Much of the central and eastern part of the country was in the midst of an above average heat wave though not quite as extreme as this months, temps were reaching upper 90s to triple digits for several weeks across the Plains, Midwest, and South. And it was just about this very week that the Pacific High (located in Gulf of Alaska in Summer) migrated eastward to a center just off the coast of British Columbia, which displaced the upper level jet (from a zonal direction hugging the US/Canada border) northward into the Yukon Territories and down through British Columbia. This, combined with an upper low that was parked over Hudson Bay & Ontario with an assoicated trough pushing through the Great Lakes, took the bottom out from underneath the upper level jet stream. The cold front that formed up in Montana and the Dakotas pushed the jet all the way to the southern US putting the central US in a NW flow pattern.
The overall affect was an end to heat wave across the central and eastern US and a significant westward displacement of the subtropical ridge. I also recall that the cold front resulted in sharp line of storms along the Red River (cant remember if they were severe or not) that pushed through much of North Texas area.
SO back to today 2006. I find it really interesting that another strong summer cold front is repeating itself almost to the very day last year. And again the strength of this cold front is quite unseasonable for this time of year, at least for the South and Southern Plains. What are the odds that the same abnormal event would happen two years in a row at the same time?
Now, Im curious as to how many of you all remember what the overall ConUS weather was like this time last year. Much of the central and eastern part of the country was in the midst of an above average heat wave though not quite as extreme as this months, temps were reaching upper 90s to triple digits for several weeks across the Plains, Midwest, and South. And it was just about this very week that the Pacific High (located in Gulf of Alaska in Summer) migrated eastward to a center just off the coast of British Columbia, which displaced the upper level jet (from a zonal direction hugging the US/Canada border) northward into the Yukon Territories and down through British Columbia. This, combined with an upper low that was parked over Hudson Bay & Ontario with an assoicated trough pushing through the Great Lakes, took the bottom out from underneath the upper level jet stream. The cold front that formed up in Montana and the Dakotas pushed the jet all the way to the southern US putting the central US in a NW flow pattern.
The overall affect was an end to heat wave across the central and eastern US and a significant westward displacement of the subtropical ridge. I also recall that the cold front resulted in sharp line of storms along the Red River (cant remember if they were severe or not) that pushed through much of North Texas area.
SO back to today 2006. I find it really interesting that another strong summer cold front is repeating itself almost to the very day last year. And again the strength of this cold front is quite unseasonable for this time of year, at least for the South and Southern Plains. What are the odds that the same abnormal event would happen two years in a row at the same time?
If y'all have any extra left over, would you mind sending it up this way?
