SEPTEMBER CAME EARLY

A strong cold front will usher in some much cooler air across the central and northeast US over the weekend and into next week with the air feeling more like late September than late August. Confidence continues to be quite high in below-normal temperatures from the desert southwest to Main heading into the beginning of September.

The immediate short term is going to be the prime "open the windows and enjoy the free AC" type of weather around the Quad Cities region. Forecast highs will be in the low-70s Sunday through Tuesday with morning lows dipping into the upper 40s! That is some impressive stuff for this time of year.

On average the first sub-50 degree morning comes around September 4 for the Quad Cities so we will likely be running about two weeks ahead of schedule. Assuming Monday morning is the first day sub-50 for a morning low, that would be the earliest in the season since 2013 when on August 14 it dropped all the way to 47.

Aug. 30 - Sept. 2

Sept. 2 - Sept. 5

Analogs continue to support the idea of below-normal temperatures through about Sept. 2/3 before we start to see signals that above-normal temperatures likely make a return.

That is backed up by European Ensemble guidance as well with above-normal temperatures once again returning around Sept. 3. There's not a very strong signal at this point in time but it will put a slowdown on the Autumn temperatures.

What is so impressive about this cooldown is equally how dry the air will be and how much it will shut down the rain machine for a bit. Precipitable water values across the Midwest (a measurement of the total atmospheric moisture content) will be about half of normal for this time of year. It will be cool and quite comfortable!

Of note, it's not all perfect news this weekend and early next week. Dozens of active, out-of-control wildfires continue across Canada and the northwest flow that will bring the cool temperatures will also bring hazy conditions and potentially reduced air quality depending on how much smoke is mixed down towards the surface. The smoke potential would come likely early next week, but hopefully winds aloft trend the right way and keep things in check. We'll keep it as a watch item for now.

I'll wrap it up with a look at current forecast low temperatures for Tuesday of next week. Upper 30s and widespread 40s look to take over the region. The circled locations (including Omaha, Lincoln and Kansas City) indicate potential record-low temperatures for Tuesday morning! That is a pretty hard thing to accomplish.

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Meteorologist Nick Stewart