Published: June 12, 2008 08:52 am         

Weather Watch

By MARK HANOK



Many of our readers may

not be aware of some major

differences between a June

heat wave and an August

heat wave. In early June the

angle of the sun is already

much higher than it is even

in late July or early August,

and the sun is getting higher

in the sky each day. With

this high-angle sun, an already

hot and very humid

day actually seems even

more oppressive.



By early August, the sun

sets earlier each day, with

longer evenings. In contrast,

the sun sets after 8:40 p.m.

in mid-June, and there’s not

much cooling until later in

the evening. In addition, we

are not yet accustomed to hot

weather so early in the season,

another reason why a

June heat wave seems hotter

than a heat wave later in the

summer.



Although we finally got

back to cooler and less humid

weather, temperatures have

continued above normal,

with all the cool air out west,

including the most snow on

record for so late in the season

in the Cascades of Washington

State.



On Friday, temperatures

will be in the low 80s, with

low humidity and brilliant

sunshine, as a southwest

flow develops ahead of the

storm system that will bring

additional heavy rains to areas

in the upper Midwest

that already got record breaking

flooding.



On Saturday, that low

pressure system will slide

eastward to the Great Lakes,

but skies will be partly sunny

in our area, with an increase

in humidity and highs

from 80 to 85 degrees. The

showers and thunderstorms

will likely hold off until late

afternoon or evening.

A northwesterly flow will

take over on Sunday, with

partly sunny skies.



The weather will be spectacular

for the Hall of Fame

Game in Cooperstown on

Monday: skies will be mostly

sunny in the morning and

partly sunny in the afternoon,

with highs around 80

degrees. As a cold front approaches

from the northwest,

showers and thunderstorms

will arrive but not until evening.

Showers on Tuesday

morning will give way to

clearing in the afternoon,

with highs back to normal in

the middle 70s.



Mark Hanok is an Otego based

meteorologist. You

can visit him on the World

Wide Web at http://members.

aol.com/weathergazette.