Omega block flips temperatures and rain across the country

Mid-Missouri is caught between two weather stories this week, with hot, dry conditions expected across the Upper Midwest and cooler, wetter weather over the Southeast.

This is part of a larger flip in weather conditions across the U.S. as summer approaches, thanks to a stubborn, recognizable pattern setting up over the country that looks like a Greek letter.

As you follow the jet stream from west to east this week, the Greek letter omega is roughly visible in the wind pattern. Two low-pressure systems on either coast are separated by a large area of high pressure over the middle of the continent. Blocking patterns like this are known to cause wacky weather as high pressure jams the jet stream and displaces storm tracks to the north and south.

High pressure has pushed rain south for the week, where storms are expected to bring 3 to 5 inches of much-needed rainfall in the coming days. Flash flooding is also possible, as these areas have been hit hard by drought in recent months.

Temperatures will also turn upside down under the effects of the omega pattern. Warmer weather is expected in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest, while the Desert Southwest and the South will be cool and wet.

High temperatures around the Great Lakes will reach the upper 80s, almost ten degrees warmer than in states hundreds of miles south. Minneapolis is forecast to reach 88 degrees on Tuesday, while Albuquerque to Atlanta will be stuck in the 70s.

Mid-Missouri is caught between both, with a mix of summer-like temperatures and spotty rain chances the rest of the week, mostly across southern Missouri away from the omega block.

Blocking is more common in the summer, when high pressure is bolstered by warmer temperatures and dryness. This can create life-threatening conditions when high pressure keeps extreme heat in place for several consecutive days, or what meteorologists sometimes call "heat domes."

America isn't the only place already dealing with heat and high pressure, either. A heat dome over Europe has shattered summer heat records before the season even begins, breaking the hottest May temperature ever recorded in London at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. London's average high at the end of May is in the 60s, about thirty degrees cooler.