Health & Fitness
The three H's are here to stay: Hazy, Hot, and Humid
Hot and humid conditions are on the way for the first week of June. Will this be a theme all summer? I explain why the air conditions will get a healthy work out this summer.
As we race towards Memorial Day weekend, the weather pattern over the Eastern United States has started to transition to the summer time pattern. This transition is slightly early for this time of year but not unusual. So why are temperatures already pushing into the upper 80's in Freehold?
The answer is a combination of atmospheric factors are coming together to produce a strong ridge over the western Atlantic to the southern Plains and a deep trough over West. As a result, the storm track is starting to evolve where low pressure systems track from the southern Plains towards the eastern Great Lakes. This puts Monmouth County, New Jersey in the heart of the hot and humid air mass that extends south towards the Gulf Coast. Is this weather pattern here to stay?
In one form or another, yes. The reason for this pattern is a combination of a waning La Nina influence on the Pacific and the development of convection over the Pacific that supports a trough along the West coast or over the Rockies. Depending on the orientation of the convection over the tropical Pacific, the trough over the West repositions from week to week either along the West coast or over the Rockies. As a result, the upper level ridge over the East repositions as well in correspondence to the trough axis.
Find out what's happening in Freeholdwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When the trough is along the West coast, the ridge is centered over the Mississippi Valley, which leads to a northwesterly flow aloft and a return to near normal weather conditions. However, when the trough is over the West coast, the ridge shifts towards the Southeast coast. Then a southwesterly flow takes over, transporting hot and humid air into New Jersey. Based on the latest data and development of the collapsing La Nina, the ridge axis more times than not will be focused along the Southeast coast leading to prolonged periods of hot and humid weather conditions and a threat of thunderstorms as disturbances race from southwest to northeast towards the eastern Great Lakes and New England.
This is why understanding the weather all over the world is so important because a cluster of thunderstorms in the Philippines can lead to a heat wave in New Jersey.
