Weather Watch

June 12, 2008 08:51 am

— 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.