What's up with this crazy weather pattern? No doubt about it, this is the hottest and driest summer so far in Indiana. Our pattern became so warm and dry going way back in March, when large areas of high pressure kept influencing our weather, bringing lots of sun and day after day of temperatures way above normal. The very similar pattern held true all spring. These large masses of high pressure cause unusual dry spells of weather throughout the spring, causing a drought to develop over the area in late May.
In June, the dry weather continued, as our ground became drier and drier as the weeks went on, with basically no rainfall in many areas for much of June. This created a weather pattern that was more typical of a desert. Several "dry fronts" swept in for the first half of June, ushering in extremely dry air from the north, and the dry ground only helped to make the humidity even lower. This allowed for big temperature swings across the area, some cases as much as a 30 degree jump from morning to afternoon temperatures. A massive a.k.a "DEATH RIDGE" parked itself over the central plains & rockies during the second half of June, which caused all the wildfires to really get out of control in Colorado. This ridge began it's move farther east after the 25th, bringing some of the hottest weather to ever strike the state since the Dust Bowl days! Indy ended the month with consecutive days in the 100's. That same ridge leads us to where we are now. The dry ground has only allowed the temperatures to get hotter, because a dry ground heats up fast, which is why drought usually has scorching hot weather to go along with it. Since then, our weather has been dominated by temps between 95-101 degrees, day after day after day. While there have been pop-up storms during the afternoons, widespread rains have continued to be absent from the state.
Why this pattern will be hard to break: You may have heard the saying "drought begets drought." This phrase is very true, because hot and dry weather seem to go hand in hand. When you have a lot of moisture in the air, the atmosphere has to get rid of its moisture before heating up. This helps keep temperatures reasonable. Without any moisture, there is nothing to stop temperatures from rising quickly, along with few clouds to slow a warm-up. As a result, you get more days with those highs in the mid 90's to near 100.
The heat causes very fast evaporation of what little moisture is around, and helps the heat to intensify. So in turn, the two basically feed off each other. The only hopes at this point would be a big change in the Pacific temperature pattern to force systems into the midwest. There have been signs of relief in the next couple weeks, but so far, the rain department has remained rather spotty. The deficit will take months to make up. We have a 30-50% chance of scattered storms tomorrow through Friday. Much like today, they will be scattered, so some areas may stay dry. On another note, I am forecasting another day of triple digits tomorrow!
Thanks for reading, have a great night!
No comments:
Post a Comment