July 01, 2008 08:44 am
—
By MARK HANOK
It was nice to get a break
from the very warm and humid
weather during the past
week, with a series of upperlevel
low pressure systems
and a northwesterly flow
aloft. Exactly as we predicted,
beautiful weather prevailed
all weekend, as all the
rain occurred at night and
early in the morning.
During the upcoming
week, we’ll go back to a
warmer and more humid
weather pattern, and more
unsettled, as a series of low
pressure systems continue
the chance of showers and
thunderstorms each day
from Saturday through early
next week.
On Friday, a light northwest
flow will take over,
around a weak area of high
pressure, and skies will be
partly to mostly sunny with
moderate levels of humidity,
and highs in the mid-80s.
On Saturday, skies will be
partly sunny with more humid
air, and highs in the
lower 80s; there’s the chance
of a shower or thunderstorm
in the afternoon or evening,
as a warm front approaches
from the south and west.
On Sunday, we’ll get variable
cloudiness with intervals
of sunshine, but thunderstorms
will become more
numerous in the afternoon
and evening as the warm
front moves through our
area; highs will be from 77 to
82 degrees.
Skies will be partly sunny
to mostly cloudy on Monday,
warm and humid with highs
in the low 80s; once again
showers and thunderstorms
will be around in the afternoon
and evening.
As a weak cold front slides
to the south on Tuesday, the
most likely time for thunderstorms
is during the morning;
otherwise there will be
partly sunny skies and highs
around 80 degrees.
Delightfully cool weather
continued in the Cooperstown
area on Thursday, as
a large upper-level trough
lifted slowly northward to
James Bay, and high pressure
moved eastward to the
Ohio Valley. A light westerly
flow prevailed, with partly
sunny to occasionally mostly
cloudy skies, and highs in
the middle 60s and dew
points in the upper 40s.
Thunderstorms were scattered
around New York State
during the late afternoon after
a thunderstorm at our
weather station in Otego,
temperatures dropped to the
low 60s.
For the first day of summer,
the weather was spectacular
in the Western
Catskills and the Cooperstown
area, as high pressure
drifted east of New England
and a weak cold front moved
eastward to Michigan. Skies
were mostly sunny through
early afternoon in the Western
Catskills, with highs in
the upper 70s and dew points
in the mid-50s. During the
late afternoon skies were
mostly cloudy, as a band of
heavy thunderstorms slid
just to the south across
northern Pennsylvania,
while another cluster of
thunderstorms moved into
northwest Pennsylvania and
New York’s western Southern
Tier.
Most local weather forecasts
called for a cloudy Sunday
in the Western Catskills,
with occasional showers and
heavy thunderstorms, but
the heat wave in the northern
Rockies ensured that any
rain would be at nighttime
and early morning event and
that bright sunshine would
return on Sunday.
On Monday, showers and
thunderstorms were entirely
a nighttime event. A weak
cold front moved through our
area during the middle of the
night, bringing occasional
thunderstorms, ending right
after sunrise. Computer
models had indicated that an
upper-level trough would
stay in place over northern
New York and continue the
showers and thunderstorms,
but the low shifted eastward
and a drier westerly flow
took over. It was just another
beautiful day in Otsego
County, with mostly sunny
skies, fairly low humidity
and highs in the upper 70s.
As the large upper-level
trough lifted northward to
the St. Lawrence Valley on
Tuesday, cold air moved in
aloft, while there was strong
heating at the surface, and
this led to considerable instability
in the atmosphere.
At the same time, drier air
moved in, with northwest
winds aloft, and along with a
picturesque array of cumulus
and altocumulus clouds,
there were intervals of bright
sunshine, and a few brief
showers; highs were around
70 degrees.
Mark Hanok is an Otego based
meteorologist. You
can visit him on the World
Wide Web at http://members.
aol.com/weathergazette.
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