Relief Finally Arrives for the Central US as Heat Shifts East

It has been a toasty start to September for millions of people in the central U.S. The region will finally catch a break as a cool front pushes into the region. The same cannot be said about the East, an area where temperatures will once again be on the uptick. This is what you need to know as you make plans for the rest of the week.

Cool Front Bringing the Mercury Down in Central U.S.

Extreme heat has plagued the central portions of the nation for days, forcing school cancellations and other life disruptions. The stubborn heat dome is on the march to the east this week, bringing cooler temperatures to the central U.S. while pushing the mercury up for many areas of the East Coast.

Temperatures have hovered 12.5 degrees above the historical average in places such as Kansas City since the end of August. It has been a similar story for cities such as Des Moines and Omaha. Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Little Rock have seen average readings land between 5 and 10 degrees over the norm for the first part of September.

A cool front is now chipping away at the heat dome, resulting in a downward trend in temperatures across eastern Montana, the Dakotas, western Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. Residents in these states can look forward to temperatures that land 5 to 15 degrees lower than what was notched to start the week.

The existing heat dome will also collapse to the south as the cool front slices away at the northern edge. Metro areas such as Oklahoma City, Dallas, and New Orleans will continue to be dealing with widespread highs that bounce around in the 90s.