Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Some Changes Headed This Way

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a great way to spot long term weather patterns. Whenever NAO is negative, temperatures will stay near or below normal - like in February and early March. Whenever NAO is neutral or positive, then the Mid-Atlantic will be generally warmer than normal - like late March and all of this month. All indications point to NAO diving back negative by the middle and end of this month. This mean that temps will return to near or below average to finish the month. It could also be the return of a stormy weather pattern. This is something we will be tracking over the next several days and will have more updates soon!

(Past and forecasted NAO)

It's Official!

The official high today was 93, so we broke the old record set back in 1942. Here's another toasty tidbit: it's been 194 days since we have seen temperatures in the 90s!

Unusual April Heat

As a broad area of high pressure remains over the entire Southeastern U.S. into the Mid-Atlantic, much-above-average temperatures continue in the region. On Monday, the high at Richmond International Airport was 89 degrees, which tied the record for April 5 from 1942. The record-to-beat on April 6 is 92 degrees, also from 1942. We should come very close to tying that record. This will also be the earliest 90-degree day in Richmond in recent years:

A strong cold front is expected to sweep through the East Thursday night, bringing a line of showers and thunderstorms and a return to cooler, more typical early-April temperatures at the end of this week.