Turning up the heat into the summer solstice

We made it through the weekend in D.C. And as celebration, we’re goose stepping into the workweek. In the wake of the parade, cool air moved in behind a cold front that sunk south from New England. But don’t let the relative chill of the last day or two fool you in the Northeast U.S., as summer is about to do a flex.

Weather Watch

More rain ahead. Zones of heavy rain will continue this week, particularly in the central and eastern portion of the U.S. One spot that is likely to pick up more is an area in West Virginia where flooding killed five on Sunday. Daily severe storm threats will also dot the land, especially in the Plains and Upper Midwest.

East Pacific storm printer go brrr. Dalila soaked parts of the Mexico coast over the weekend, including Acapulco on the south-central coast. And the next storm is imminent. Eventually named Erick, it seems likely to run into the far southern coast as a tropical storm during the mid- to late workweek.

Lightning links

Failaka Island, Kuwait set a world record for an island high temperature at 52.6 Celsius (127 degrees), also the hottest on Earth this year.

Galápagos tortoise in Miami celebrates first Father's Day on 135th birthday.

Monday morning weather maps

Summer will spread across much of the country over the next week. It’s the hottest stretch so far as we approach the first full day of astronomical summer on Saturday.

Many will welcome the season with the first major HeatRisk episode of the year. HeatRisk is a metric developed by the federal government to quantify potential of threats to life, commerce and property from excessive heat.

A sample of high temperatures, as forecast by the National Weather Service, over the next week includes:

• Phoenix: 114 on Thursday

• Salt Lake City: 102 on Thursday

• Denver: 99 on Friday/Saturday

• St. Louis: 96 on Saturday/Sunday

• Charlotte, Chicago and D.C.: 94 on Sunday

• Atlanta: 93 on Saturday/Sunny

You can see below that weather modeling suggests even higher temperatures in some of those locations.

While somewhat cooler weather is eventually anticipated in the western Lower 48, there’s no sign of anything but high heat on the way in much of the east (I write, glancing out the window at 60s and occasional rain).

About

Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

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