Eastern U.S. Will See Uptick in Storms Along with Cooler Air

A backdoor cool front coming down from Canada will send the temperatures downward across the Northeast, the Great Lakes, and as far south as the mid-Atlantic. What about the chances of rain? Read on for the details of this changing weather pattern in the days ahead.

First Push of Cool Air Already Making Its Way Into New England and the Northeast

Millions of Americans across the northern and eastern U.S. will get a break from the heat thanks to the arrival of cooler air from the north. Temperatures could plummet as low as the 30s during the overnight hours across some of the higher elevations of New England. The push of cooler air will arrive at two different intervals in the week ahead.

The first batch of cool air will hit the Northeast by the end of the weekend. A significant bulge in the jet stream will support the cooler air moving from Canada and into New England. The result will be temperatures that fall as much as 10 to 20 degrees from what many communities saw on Friday.

The cooling impacts of the jet stream bulge will make it to the Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic coast by the time that the weekend ends. The flip side to the cooler air is that humidity levels will also begin to rise. The boundary between the cooler and warmer air will be the conduit for the development of rain showers and gusty thunderstorms. The storms riding along this boundary are expected to sneak into parts of the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes at times.

For instance, Buffalo is in store for a rocky day of weather on Sunday. Scattered storms will roam the city in the eastern Great Lakes throughout the day before moving out during the evening and overnight hours. The increasing clouds will keep the temperatures in the low 80s for a high. It will also be a bit breezy in Buffalo with winds out of the west-southwest at 10 to 15 mph.

The building cloud cover will pair with the cooling breezes produced by the storm activity to bring down the real feel readings by late Sunday. For example, after seeing highs near the century mark on Friday, Washington, D.C. will max out in the low 90s by the end of the weekend.

The cooling trend across the mid-Atlantic states will put the brakes on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures inching upward once again. Places such as Washington, D.C. will be back in the mid to upper 90s before the next round of cooler conditions arrives in the nation's capital.

The Northeast will see readings climb upwards again as the new work week begins. Temperatures will peak on Tuesday in the Big Apple with a forecast high of 98 degrees. This will feel like quite the change from the low 80s expected on Sunday. The threat of storms will also dissipate on Monday in New York City.

Timing of Second Round of Cooler Air

The core of the heat dome is currently focused on the southern Plains and the Southeast. As this core moves back to the west and toward the Plains and the Rockies, the second batch of cooler air will find an avenue to dip into the Northeast and the Great Lakes. A much more pronounced temperature change will arrive by the middle of next week, tracking as far as the mid-Atlantic to the south and to the west into the Great Lakes region.

The end result will be a temperature change of up to 20 degrees for major urban areas such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Philadelphia will go from highs in the upper 90s on Tuesday and Wednesday to a forecast top reading of just 83 degrees on Thursday.

The City of Brotherly Love will also be under the gun for more rain showers and storms by Thursday as the frontal boundary arrives. This pattern will be something to keep an eye on as the week progresses.

The shift in temperatures will be even more noticeable in the interior portions of the Northeast. Pittsburgh will max out with a high in the mid 70s on Thursday. Scattered rain showers will amplify the cooling effect in the Steel City. Friday is shaping up to be a lovely early August day in this part of the region with a forecast high in the upper 70s and mostly sunny and dry conditions. Days as pleasant as this are rare during the dog days of summer.

Overnight Lows to Plummet to Fall Levels

This is also when the mercury could fall into the 40s and upper 30s in the northern reaches of New England. The readings will be the chilliest across the Adirondacks and up into the Green and White Mountains. You can expect overnight lows to settle in the 60s across the populated Interstate 95 corridor.

Forecasters are predicting that widespread temperatures will land several degrees below the norm for late July and early August. For instance, while the historical average hovers in the low 80s for northern New England, high readings will top out at about the mid 70s for places such as Bangor, Maine.

The transition from the heat back to cooler weather will also come with an increased threat of torrential rain and gusty storms. Travelers will want to keep tabs on this developing system.

Humidity levels will also come down with the mercury in a large zone from New England and down into the mid-Atlantic. The relief from the heat and the humidity is also expected to reach the Southeast by the first weekend of August.

The bottom line is that the Northeast and beyond are all in for a topsy-turvy weather pattern as the calendar flips from July to August. Widely fluctuating temperatures will be the most significant storyline; however, the shifting weather will also bring in varying degrees of disruptive rain and gusty storms. Stay tuned as we monitor the progression of this unsettled pattern.

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