SUMMER'S NOT DONE...

The weather has been warm, muggy, and active for much of the last week around the Upper Midwest. An upper level ridge - a big area of high pressure - has been dominating the weather pattern across much of the country, in fact.

The southwest flow, that results from this pattern, pulls in warm air. Surface winds coming in out of the south pull in the Gulf moisture. The final result is warm, muggy, and stormy. Here's a look at the temperature departure over the last seven days...

Anywhere from two to eight degrees above normal of the high and low temperatures combined. A boundary was stalled out in the area, keeping the southerly surface flow and leading to multiple rounds of rain through the week. Here's a look at the precipitation over the last week -

Some areas picked up five to seven inches of rain in just six days time - notably in northeast Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin. The graphic above also does not include the rain that fell during Saturday. However, it was telling of how active it's been around here lately.

Additionally, during the week there was severe weather - reports of tornadoes, strong winds, and flash flooding from the high instability and high moisture levels.

The warmth continues this week... Here's a look at the high temperatures for Sunday:

And the humidity will be higher. Here's a look at the dew points:

Back in the 70s... yuck! And that warmth is expected to stick around for the whole week. Here's a look at the outlook from the Climate Prediction Center through September 24th:

This upcoming wee won't be as active as last week, though... The next chance for rain will come Wednesday night into early Thursday:

And then there may be more rain over the weekend. Otherwise it's not looking quite as active, but still warm and muggy.

Summer's still hanging on!

RK