Weather Eye: Temperatures stay above average with no rain in sight

We received a bit of a reprieve on Monday from three days of 90-degree or higher temperatures. A weak trough of low pressure ushered the hot weather out of the area and even brought some rain showers along our coastline, generally less than a tenth of an inch.

We begin to warm once again today, and I expect highs to range between 85 and 90 degrees the rest of the week. That large “heat dome” that you have probably heard of over the Great Basin is keeping us on the warm side of things with high temperatures above seasonal normals.

This area of hot weather inches northward and then is suppressed by an area of colder air in the Gulf of Alaska; we are caught in the middle of these two extreme air masses. Good thing, because we could be suffering from excessive heat over 100 degrees like our neighbors in the Southwest.

Bottom line is we will continue to go up and down with the high temperatures but average above-normal high temperatures until further notice. And no rain in sight. Outside of temperature fluctuations, this pattern keeps the unstable air to our south and no threats of lightning and thunderstorms. Excellent news for fire weather.

With those three days in the 90s Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we are close to the annual average number of days of 90 degrees or higher. We normally receive about 14 or 15 days of 90-degree temperatures. Last year, we doubled that. The last time we were close to average was in 2019 and 2020. We still have plenty of summer weather to tally more 90-degree highs as we are reaching the midpoint of the meteorological summer months.

Does it seem like summer is going fast to you? Seems like it to me, perhaps the lack of extremes such as rain, thunderstorms and excessive heat. Yeah, soon we’ll be chatting about autumn and its weather characteristics. Meanwhile we hum along with nature and play the fiddle.

Enjoy the warm days and be thankful the “heat dome” has no immediate plans to visit.