A return to summer this week?

This Wednesday morning temperatures around Mecklenburg County bottomed out in the low 50s. Highs this afternoon will creep back into the low 80s under sunny skies. Locally, the month of September begins with average highs and lows in the mid-80s and mid-60s, respectively. By the end of this transitional month those values drop to the upper 70s and mid-50s.

However, folks who have been missing summer's heat won't have to totally give up just yet. High pressure controlling today's conditions will move off the coast on Thursday, turning surface winds around out of the southwest. That will pump enough warmer air such that local thermometers tomorrow will climb close to the 90º mark. Along with the heat those winds will also usher in more humidity, so overnight temperatures will only drop into the low 60s.

Rainfall continues to look scarce, however. A cold front will hang up over the Appalachians on Thursday, bringing showers and storms to western Virginia but no moisture for Mecklenburg farms and gardens. The next chance of rain will be Saturday night, but those amounts look paltry at best. This soil moisture map indicates the growing dry conditions (Mecklenburg County is at the black star):

Friday's post will look more closely at the weekend conditions.