Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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The tropics vs. tundra battle that defines our autumn is well under way.

During the past few days, the effects of Hurricane Bill and a large high pressure system to our east have hampered the movement of cooler air from Canada into our region.

As a result, while temperatures did cool down some early this week, the rebound to heat and humidity will be much quicker than earlier expected. The next two days in particular could be quite hot, perhaps even the lower 90s, before new weather factors come into play.

Those factors include a cold front from the north or northwest, trying again to introduce cooler air, and what may become Tropical Storm Danny (or even Hurricane Danny) to our southeast.

The interplay of these features will be important toward the end of the week and over the weekend. A period of humid, showery weather something like we saw last week appears to be probable.

The overall upper-air pattern still suggests that cooler-than-normal temperatures will work southward from Canada into much of the central and eastern United States over the next couple of weeks.

It's just going to be a push-and-pull battle against the sticky tropical stuff.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.