As we all anticipate the coldest punishing air mass of the new winter season we need to take precautions from the elements affecting all of us in southern New England. After a prolonged period of snow and wind, the arctic bite will be felt in a big way for a couple of days Friday and Saturday. Very dry and light powdery snow will begin covering our landscape during Thursday mornings commute and will intensify Thursday evening into near blizzard conditions as an intense coastal low will deepen off the mid Atlantic coast drawing in bitter cold air from Canada. Northeast winds will pick up creating near wideout conditions at times. The eastern coastal areas will feel the full wrath of this winter storm with gale force wind gusts exceeding 50mph. The storm will depart Friday morning leaving behind about a half foot or more of snow with sculptured drifts all over the place and the coldest temperatures here n 10 years. Highs on Friday will struggle to reach the low teens and lows of 5-15 below zero will be common Saturday morning. Then a gradual warm up through the weekend. “Nice”.

The sun angle in the sky is dropping precipitously this time of year. If this was the middle of March it would have the same look on how it appears from the horizon. The days are now decending away from equal daylight and darkness and we have lost over 3 hours of sunlight from the third week of June. The average high and low temperatures have withered off 15 degrees to date with 36 to go for another 4 months. There will still be a few balmy fall days in the 70’s for the next month with some cold and frosty nights too as Halloween approaches.

Today was truly one of the best ten days of year. The air had a defined crispness to it early this morning and as the day grew longer there was an absence of the August summertime haze. The dog days of summer are here as the sun and Sirius (the dog star) set together in the west this evening,  but a continuous northwest flow of Canadian air will keep the sultry dogs at bay ’til further notice. The finale will take place after midnight as the Perseids meteor shower makes its annual apperance. Prime time to observe a 90-100 per hour meteor shower will be near dawn Monday morning. The icing on the the cake for 24 hours of perfection.

Hurricane season officially begins June 1st but activity doesn’t really get going until the Atlantic and Caribbean waters warm significantly over 80 degrees. Two areas that hurricane watchers keep an eye on are the Caribbean Ocean and the west coast of Africa. Tropical thunderstorms develop near the Azores in clusters and get caught up in the easterly trade winds. Sometimes these thunderstorms will create their own low pressure system and gather strength feeding on the warm tropical water as they take the long journery eastward across the Atlantic Ocean. Depending on upper air systems, these storms will either fall apart from upper wind shear or gather strength with the right upper air dynamics.  This year the probability of a hurricane making landfall are 3, and named storms 16 which is higher than a normal year. We are definitely in a high cycle of activity.

A new named storm Dorian in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean has recently strengthened into tropical storm which is a week away from any threat to coastal areas of the United States.

Yesterday was the second day in the last 14 that the temperature did not go over 90 degrees. So far this month Hartford is experiencing its hottest month ever since the Weather Service officially started recording temperatures in 1905. We are averaging 80.5 degrees this July, some 7 degrees above normal and warmer than coastal Florida. The heat will finally subside the next week or so with more seasonable conditions. No more 90 degree days through the last week of July and into early August. The average high and low temperature for this date is 85 and 63. Unfortunately humidity will creep back in later today and tonight as warm front will push through the state from south to north. Some tropical showers will pour down on us before the next cold front ushers in its refreshing air mass tomorrow night.