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WET WEATHER LINGERS IN THE NORTHEAST -- While most of the nation had little precipitation on Tuesday, the Northeast received widespread rain as a low pressure system moved slowly across the region. As of late Tuesday night, the low pressure system was centered approximately 200 miles southeast of Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts. A precipitation shield northwest of the low pressure center spread rain from New Jersey northeastward to Maine. As much as 2.00 inches of rain fell at Atlantic City, NJ in the 24 hours ending on Tuesday evening. Philadelphia and Harrisburg had slightly lesser accumulations.
With nighttime cooling coupled with high atmospheric humidities from recent rains, areas of dense fog were beginning to develop across the Connecticut Valley of northern New England and the valleys of the Appalachians in Pennsylvania and the Virginias. By Wednesday morning the low pressure system should have moved sufficiently far to the northeast that the rain would have ceased across New England.
MORE COOL WEATHER -- A cold front continued a slow march southward across the Upper Midwest on Tuesday. This cold front curved southwestward from a low pressure center in Labrador, crossing Michigan's Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin and central Minnesota before turning northwestward over the Dakotas. Cooler air was situated to the north of this front across central Canada. Some widely scattered showers were found along portions of the cold front, particularly over Lake Superior.
A low pressure system is expected to develop along the lee slopes of the northern Rockies, then move eastward along the US-Canadian border by Wednesday morning. Some light precipitation should develop ahead of the low's warm front across North Dakota by morning. This precipitation area should expand eastward into the western Great Lakes by evening.
RAIN IN SOUTH FLORIDA -- Rainshowers and some thunderstorms were located along a cold front that crossed south Florida on Tuesday night. The cold front was near the southern terminus of the front associated with the low pressure system off the New England coast. On Wednesday, thunderstorms along a nearly stalled cold front could produce as much as 0.5 inches of rain across south Florida.
RAIN IN THE SOUTHWEST -- Some afternoon showers fell across southern Arizona. The low pressure area located over the southern Colorado River Valley and southern California is a common feature during the summer season. This "heat low" results from the intense heating of earth's surface in that region leading to increased buoyancy of the overlying air. Some of the moisture carried northward into Arizona may have been the remnants of Tropical Depression Norman that dissipated along the west coast of Mexico last Friday.
PLEASANT WEATHER -- Much of the country experienced relatively tranquil weather as high pressure dominated, stretching from the Southeast to the Great Basin.
Presence of high pressure provided the ingredients for vigorous nighttime cooling. Numerous daily low temperature records were either tied or set on Tuesday morning in Texas at San Angelo (38 degrees), Abilene (39 degrees), Waco (44 degrees), Longview (45 degrees), Austin-Bergstrom (47 degrees), Lufkin (48 degrees), Victoria (48 degrees), Beaumont (49 degrees), Houston-International (49 degrees), Corpus Christi (53 degrees), Lake Charles, LA (51 degrees), Joplin, MO (38 degrees), McAlester, OK (39 degrees), Chanute, KS (38 degrees) and in Tennessee at Dyersburg (43 degrees), Jackson (41 degrees) and Memphis (46 degrees).
In the West, Olympia, WA tied a record high temperature with 79 degrees.
YESTERDAY'S TEMPERATURE EXTREMES ACROSS THE CONTINENTAL US --Tuesday morning's lowest temperature was 15 degrees at West Yellowstone, MT, while the highest temperature on Tuesday was 105 degrees at Thermal, CA and Coolidge, AZ.
ALASKAN WEATHER -- A large arctic air mass invaded interior Alaska from the northwest as a cold high pressure system expanded across the state from eastern Siberia. As of Tuesday afternoon much of Alaska was under high pressure, accompanied by clearing skies and falling temperatures. Temperatures in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley fell from near 50 degrees during the early morning hours to the low 40s by late morning. As the high builds across the region, the pressure gradient between the high pressure center and a strong low pressure system across the North Pacific Ocean created windy conditions over the central Aleutians and the Pribilofs. Dutch Harbor and St. Paul had gusts of approximately 40 mph. A weak low pressure system remained along the northern Gulf of Alaska. Widespread clouds and rain were found across the northeast Gulf coast and the Copper River Basin in southeast Alaska. Another low over the Beaufort Sea was responsible for clouds, precipitation and gusty winds along the eastern Arctic coast.
The state's lowest overnight temperature on Tuesday morning was 14 degrees at Arctic Village. The highest temperature by mid afternoon of Tuesday was 61 degrees at Big River Lakes.
HAWAIIAN WEATHER -- The light winds over the islands became more southeasterly on Tuesday as high pressure remained close to Hawaii. A westward moving weak tropical disturbance is expected to move to the south of the islands on Wednesday. Moisture associated with this system has been transported north toward the Big Island resulting in additional clouds and showers. A thunderstorm, a relatively rare occurrence in the 50th State could occur on the slopes of the Big Island. The ridge of high pressure to the north of the islands is expected to strengthen, accompanied by an increase in wind speed later in the week. Large ocean swell was expected to reach the islands from the northwest late Wednesday, producing high surf conditions, especially on the northwest facing beaches.
EYE ON THE TROPICS -- Despite some weakening, Hurricane Isaac continued its movement across the tropical Atlantic. As of late Tuesday night, Isaac had winds of 90 mph and was moving to the west-northwest at 13 mph, approximately 1020 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. Not far behind, Tropical Storm Joyce with 65 mph winds was 1555 miles east of the Windward Islands and moving toward the west at 12 mph.
LEAF PEEPING? -- Read the optional Wednesday Supplemental Information to learn more about why deciduous trees turn color in autumn and find the current updates on the progression of the fall coloration through the National Forests across the country.
REPORT FROM THE FIELD -- Faye McCollum, LIT Leader from Columbus, GA has reported that the leaves in southwest Georgia have begun turning more than 6 weeks earlier than usual as a result of the extended drought that has plagued the region for the last two years.
From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast
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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2000, The American Meteorological Society.