The period will open with an active weather pattern. A cold front will slowly press south through early week. At the same time, Hurricane Ida is forecast to make landfall along the north-central Gulf Coast (likely along the LA coastline) Sunday afternoon, and as a major hurricane at that. The remnant moisture of Ida will lift north before curling east. Eventually, we believe the remnant moisture of Ida will get tangled up with the aforementioned cold front. While we’ll need to keep a close eye on data to see if any adjustments are needed early week, as of now, we believe the heavy rain threat will lie just south of our immediate area (more so along and south of the OH River). We’ll keep a close eye on things. Regardless, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected as the cold front sinks south. By midweek, the region will be in a much drier (and somewhat cooler) northeasterly airflow. Dry conditions are expected to continue into the holiday weekend ahead with slowly moderating temperatures.
The overall weather pattern in the week ahead will feature an expanding ridge of high pressure into the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes. This will lead to oppressive heat and humidity expanding northeast (multiple days of highs into the lower 90s with high humidity values will make it feel closer to 100° through early and middle parts of the work week). Meanwhile, a persistent trough will continue to take up residence through the early part of the forecast period across the northern Rockies (additional early season snow will fly for the high peaks above 12k feet). The other big story during this forecast period? Henri, of course. Henri will deliver quite a blow to our friends in New England beginning later today, continuing a heavy interior rainfall threat through the early and middle part of the work week.
Back here on the home front, each and every day will feature isolated storm coverage. While “isolated” is the key word, if you find yourself under one of these storms, a quick 1″+ of rain is a good bet with the moisture content we’ll be dealing with. Somewhat better storm coverage is anticipated during the 2nd half of the work week (we’ll label it “widely scattered to scattered.” ;-)).
The past 36 hours has provided a nice change of pace as of late with lower humidity and cooler temperatures. (Several reporting sites across northern Indiana are in the lower 50s this morning with middle 50s as far south as the Indianapolis suburbs). As we look to start the new week, humidity will be on the increase along with a daily chance of scattered thunderstorms beginning as early as Monday, continuing Tuesday. We will try and inject briefly drier air in here Wednesday which should reduce coverage of “splash and dash” storms before scattered storms return to close the week. As we look ahead to Saturday, better storm coverage is expected as a cold front moves through the region.
A couple of other items of interest on a broader scale include the first snow of the young season falling across the northern Rockies this week, as an early shot of winter-like air descends south from Canada. Also, from a tropical perspective, we’ll keep close eyes on what comes of Fred and Grace. As it sits today, we still don’t anticipate impacts here in central Indiana from either systems.
While not AS hot and sultry as Saturday, today will once again flirt with 90° across most of central Indiana under a mostly sunny sky. If you’re a fan of the heat, enjoy today as a transition in the overall pattern will deliver a much less humid and cooler airmass to our neck of the woods throughout the majority of the upcoming week (and what is looking more and more like beyond). We’ll track two cold fronts that will push through the region between Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Both of these frontal passages should be mostly uneventful from a precipitation perspective (only an isolated shower or storm is expected). As we look ahead, somewhat better chances of scattered showers and thunderstorms look poised to impact our region Friday (30% to 40% aerial coverage) as yet another cold front moves through. This will set us up for drier conditions once again for Father’s Day weekend.
Gusty Out This Morning…Westerly winds are blowing at a good clip this morning, including gusts of 30-40 MPH. These will continue into the afternoon before diminishing. All in all, we’re looking at a much milder stretch of weather in the week ahead. Compared to the past couple of weeks, most days will be downright balmy. Sunshine will return tomorrow and remain with us through the day Friday. It continues to look like Wednesday night’s frontal passage will be an uneventful one.
As we look ahead to the weekend, shower chances return Saturday as a couple of systems team together. As of now, the northern and southern stream energy doesn’t look like it’ll phase until over the Northeast/ New England region. As such, this doesn’t look like a big deal here, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on things.
Averages: H: 43°/ L: 26° on the 22nd –> H: 45°/ L: 28° on the 28th