DETROIT – A cold front crossed the area Monday evening, and it brought both good and bad news.
The good news is that dewpoint temperatures dropped immediately behind the front, indicative of a much drier air mass coming in -- you’ll notice the improved “comfort factor” when you step outside today.
The bad news is that the front did not generate nearly as much shower and thunderstorm activity as we hoped, which did not alleviate the very dry conditions for most of us. In all likelihood, this week’s new drought monitor will expand some of the moderate drought area in southeast Michigan.
Since the glass is always half-full with me, let’s finish this with some good news: the dry air moving in will give us a mostly sunny day today, with highs in the mid 80s (that’s 30 degrees Celsius for our Canadian friends across the river), and comfortable humidity. It will become breezy though, with a southwest wind at 10 to 15 mph, and gusts approaching 20 mph. You’ll feel the difference compared to yesterday!
Today’s sunrise is at 6:23 a.m., and today’s sunset is at 8:56 p.m.
Mostly clear this evening, then scattered showers and thunderstorms (NOT severe) are possible after 10:00 p.m. It’s not clear yet which part of the area has the best chance of seeing any of this much needed rain, but we all have at least a chance at this point. Lows in the mid to upper 60s (19 to 20 degrees Celsius). Southwest wind at 5 to 10 mph.
Partly cloudy on Wednesday with scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms, a few of which could have gusty winds. Highs in the mid 80s (29 to 30 degrees Celsius).
Mostly clear Wednesday night, with lows in the mid 60s (18 degrees Celsius).
We then hit a stretch of three straight beautiful summer days (forgetting for a moment that we really need the rain…but don’t worry, it’s coming). Thursday through Saturday look mostly sunny to partly cloudy, with highs in the low to mid 80s (27 to 29 degrees Celsius), and comfortable overnight lows in the low to mid 60s (16 to 18 degrees Celsius).
This morning’s long-range computer models suggest that an upper level wave of low pressure will swing up this way from the Okahoma/Kansas/Missouri triple point and give us the chance for a much-needed steady rain on Sunday. Details obviously are still sketchy right now…a lot can change with that upper wave between now and then. But if today’s models have a good handle on things, then this would not be “hit and miss” scattered rain…it would be something we all get. Naturally, we don’t want rain on a weekend day, but our farmers really could use a nice drink from Mother Nature. As mentioned above, some parts of our area are in moderate drought. The one wild card could be the developing tropical system that, by this weekend, should be in the vicinity of the Bahamas.
Some models keep a rain chance into Monday, while others do not. We’ll see. But we then start another nice stretch of summer weather, with mostly sunny skies next Tuesday through Friday, with highs warming from the low 80s (27 to 28 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday into the mid 80s (30 degrees Celsius) by Friday.