Summer's Not Going Anywhere

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The final weekend of August is just around the corner. Vacations will come to an end and many students will catch the bus to school Monday morning. Cider donuts, apple picking, and football games will start dominating the calendar. But tell that to nature, which has a knack for not listening to anyone. Autumn will not be in a big rush to get here this year.

This song may sound familiar - because it is! When we hit September last year, the heat finally arrived. Right off the bat we tacked on three 90+ degree days for a scorcher of a Labor Day Weekend. As it looks right now, we're in for more of the same in 2015. While the humidity is finally getting slowly squeezed out today, the warm temps aren't going anywhere. We'll 'cool' to highs near 80 on Thursday/Friday, but jump right back into the thick of the 80s for this upcoming weekend. Thankfully, the humidity won't build much with that warm-up. Winds will stay more W/NW than SW, keeping high dew points at bay.

Next week, models are suggesting a wide area of warmth taking over the eastern U.S. as a ridge in the jet stream builds in. This is great for summer lovers in the east, but it's also great news for those battling major wildfires in the west. As this ridge builds, a trough will dig into the Northwest and bring with it a cooler and wetter pattern. Hopefully this will help clear the air from the choking smoke that's hung over the region for weeks. It will also help firefighters to gain an upper hand on some of the fires.

Back here at home, early indications are for a week full of 80s and 90s to start September. That's hot, but it's not record breaking heat. Record highs are well into the 90s in Boston for the first week of September. There are even a couple days in the 100s! The record high for September 2nd is 100F and on the 7th is 102F. So it's still possible to see very warm weather this time of year.

It appears this kind of pattern may linger well into the month. At the very least, it looks like mainly above average temperatures into mid-September. Farms and gardens that may have struggled early in the growing season with a very cold June have had a chance to catch up, and crops should continue to flourish into the harvest season. Their only enemy is the decreasing daylight, which becomes quite noticeable in September. By the end of the month we'll have lost ~three and a half hours of daylight since the solstice, and the sun will be setting at 6:28pm. To me, this is the sole complaint with what September brings to the table.

So soak up the beach time while it lasts and keep the summer clothes in the closet for a good while longer. The best time of the year to head to the shore is arguably over the next few weeks when the water is at its warmest and the weather is tranquil (unless the tropics head our way). The biggest crowds thin and you can play a round of mini-golf at Pirate's Cove on the Cape without offering up your first born to move up in line. This pattern looks perfect to try and sneak in at least one more trip or a long weekend before the days grow more dim and the pumpkin spice lattes invade. Enjoy!