AUGUST, I'LL MISS YOU....

Tomorrow will make it 18 out of 31 August days in Cedar Rapids we've had highs in the 70s. Not a single 90, nothing warmer than 87. Along with that we posted 2 lows in the 40s.

The last time we had more 70 degree highs in August was 1992 (25 years ago) when we had a total of 19. Again, for all practical purposes traditional summer weather has been over for the last month! Just look at the August temperature departures.

As I mentioned yesterday we are going to get a couple days this weekend where we see a spike that brings 2 days of highs in the mid 80s. And, once again today the 12z GFS went wild on Labor Day highs forecasting a reading of 103 in Cedar Rapids. In fact, it has the southern 2/3rds of Iowa in highs of 100-105.

With normal highs in the upper 70s the GFS would imply readings 20-24 degrees above normal.

Along with that, a maximum of 103 would be the hottest temperature of the year by a whopping 10 degrees (the warmest day of the summer in CR so far has been 93 way back on June 13th).

So what are the odds of the GFS verifying at 100 or more? I would say slim and none and the EURO agrees. It has a high on Labor Day of 83 and that's at noon just before the passage of a strong cold front.

Personally, I think the faster speed of the EURO will win in this fight. It's thermal depiction of the atmosphere is far more realistic, especially considering we are talking September 3rd. The days are shorter and the suns intensity is growing weaker by the day. It's just hard to get much above the low to mid 90s in September even with perfect conditions.

That said, I'm on the EURO bandwagon looking for highs in the 80s Labor Day before much cooler air returns to the Midwest most of next week. Check out this trough next Wednesday. Good thing it's not January or we would be in the deep freeze!

Here's the mid-day temperatures that are forecast next Wednesday. Nice, fresh, and fall-like!

As far as rain's concerned, I sure don't see much of that the next week with a dry west to northwest flow. Make your plans outdoors! Roll weather...TS