Summerlike Weather on the Way for the Midwest and the East

The cool start to the month of May is about to be a thing of the past for the Midwest and the East. A dramatic surge in heat and humidity levels will make it feel more like the middle of summer for millions of Americans beginning next week. Here is what you need to know about the sudden warmup lurking on the horizon for this part of the country.

Heat and Humidity on the Way for the Midwest and the East

As forecasters have been predicting for weeks, the back half of May is going to bring a noticeable warmup for a large swath of the central and eastern U.S. The highest humidity levels of the year will pair with the rising temperatures to make it feel particularly toasty, particularly for people who have not yet experienced heat of this degree yet this summer.

The first half of May has been marked by unseasonably cool weather. Temperatures throughout the Midwest and the interior portions of the Northeast have hovered about 5 to 10 degrees below the historical average. Only the state of Florida has seen readings consistently above the norm for this time of the year.

The cooler temperatures overall have inherently paved the way for some late-season frost and freeze events in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest. This was the case early this week when overnight lows dipped down into the mid 30s in some of the nation's extreme northern reaches.

A stubborn Omega blocking pattern is driving the weather across most of the U.S. this week. However, that will all change starting this weekend when a flip in the stagnant pattern this week will translate to significantly warmer temperatures.

The influx of sizzling temperatures is currently anchored over the Desert Southwest. Widespread triple-digit temperatures have been the story for this corner of the country over the last several days.

An area of high pressure is forecast to develop in the coming days over the southeastern U.S. This high-pressure zone will move off the southern Atlantic coast shortly, paving the way for warmer and more humid air to infiltrate the Midwest and the East. Daily highs that have been hovering in the 50s and 60s in the Northeast will climb into the 80s early in the new week.

The most noticeable weather change will be the uptick in humidity. While the Northeast has seen times of warmth already this spring, humidity levels have remained on the low end. This means that dew points in the 60s next week will feel like quite the change.