Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Weather columnist Kevin Myatt: Cool spell may take the steam out of June
Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.
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This month has been on pace to be the hottest June on record at the Roanoke Regional Airport.
But a period of unseasonably cool weather over the next several days probably will bring the month's average temperatures out of record territory.
Through Monday, Roanoke's average temperature for the first 16 days of June was 78.4 degrees -- a little more than 8 degrees above normal and just over a half-degree higher than the record hottest June, 77.8 degrees, in 1952.
Roanoke's high temperature reached at least 90 degrees on 11 of the month's first 16 days, and all but one of those days averaged at least 3 degrees above normal in temperature.
But the jet stream has made a major shift, and is now coming from the northwest out of Canada over the eastern United States. It is likely to remain in this position for the rest of this week, possibly into next week, bringing down reinforcing shots of cooler Canadian air.
Highs through most of the next week are expected to be in the 70s to low 80s; normal highs are in the mid 80s. Lows may dip into the 50s, below the normal near 60. Some rural locations may drop into the 40s.
Each day of below-normal temperatures will chop a little off the month's average temperature. This cool snap probably will be long enough to keep June from being a record hot month, but maybe not long enough to keep it from being a warmer-than-normal month.
