Weekly outlook: Warmth, thunderstorms, and more warmth

The well-advertised warmup we previously wrote about has finally arrived, and it’s packed quite the punch. Away from the immediate coast, temperatures have hit 80 degrees on consecutive days (yesterday and today), and if clouds don’t increase too quickly tomorrow, we could make it a 3rd straight day.

The average high in Central Park on May 4th is 67 degrees. So far today, we’ve already hit a high of 85 degrees. It’s definitely an early preview of summer, as a deep southwest flow has taken over the weather pattern, stemming from a large ridge of high pressure dominating most of the country — particularly the Southeast States and streaming through into our area. A large area of high pressure to our south is the most efficient way to generate warmth, as the counterclockwise flow around the high pumps up the warmth from the Gulf.

With the core of the ridge being near our area and frontal boundaries being well to the north, skies have remained mostly sunny, except for a few cumulus clouds here and there due to the heating of the ground. This will remain the case through the rest of the afternoon, as temperatures generally hold in the low 80s and falling to the 60s and 70s this evening. Areas closer to the coast have had to deal with a sea breeze, as temperatures have held in the 60s and 70s, and will fall into the upper 50s and low 60s this evening. This will also be a general theme during this warm stretch.

While there are initially decent atmospheric conditions for radiational cooling this evening/tonight, an increase in clouds and the warm airmass should keep low temperatures in the mid 50s for the most part — with low 60s in Urban areas.

Moving towards tomorrow, more clouds and a few scattered thunderstorms is a possibility.

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