Increasing heat and humidity to remind us it’s still summer

Mother Nature has largely spoiled us the past few weeks across Mid-Missouri. For a brief time we got to experience an early taste of fall and it was quite enjoyable, but that changes as we head into the remainder of August.

So what brought the “cool” spell to Mid-Missouri?

Thanks to a series of cold fronts that tracked through Mid-Missouri, we were largely under northwesterly flow aloft. This kept the heat and humidity at bay and tricked many of us into thinking fall was going to arrive early. That northwesterly flow aloft has since become more westerly. When this occurs, we slowly begin to see southerly winds at the surface return to Mid-Missouri. We also draw our attention to the weather pattern out west, because that’s what will determine our temperature trend for the foreseeable future.

Lately, the west has been dealing with yet another heat wave. It’s nothing like what was experienced earlier in the summer, but it’s a trend that has kept the west warm for most of the summer. This is likely to transition into a ridge that will build into Mid-Missouri as we head into the coming days.

So what does this mean for Mid-Missouri?

A ridge building into the region will once again mean temperatures at or above average for the region. While we are closing in on the end of summer, we aren’t talking brutal heat, but temperatures about 2-3 degrees above average. As winds wrap around out of the south, we’ll see a return of the heat and humidity, with heat indices each day approaching the mid to upper 90s.

While many of us are wishing the fall tease would stick around a little longer, a ridge building into Mid-Missouri may actually be good news. This will likely mean as we head into Eclipse 2017, we’ll see fewer clouds. As it’s still a week out, that is likely to change.

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