Thursday, August 27, 2009

Diluted Soup but Little Punch

After a brief taste of fall, hot, humid air pushed into mid Missouri yesterday afternoon as a cold front loomed to our northwest. With temperatures pushing 90F and dew points near 70F, we were back in the summer soup.

Today, the cold front is nudging toward the southeast and its central low pressure sits over our region. Not energized by the jet stream, the front has little punch and, though some storms are expected, no severe weather is likely to occur. The band of heat and humidity is now off to our east, curving up the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, while cooler and drier air is filtering in from the northwest, diluting the soup that blanketed our State yesterday; this afternoon, both the high temperature and the dew point are ten degrees cooler.

Since this cold front is not as potent as the one that deflected Hurricane Bill to the north, Tropical Storm Danny may have more impact along the Eastern Seaboard than did its more powerful predecessor. Heavy rains and strong winds may lash the mid Atlantic and New England coasts as the plodding cold front lingers along the Appalachians; of course, time will tell.