>Today’s Top Weather Stories
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan

A Tale of Two Extremes On Both sides of the Atlantic

Washington DC tops unprecidented 99-degree high, whilst my house here in Scotland dips to a morning low of 31 degrees with frost.

Whilst the East Coast of the USA experiences some unusual late-season heat in which shatters records on the tail end of what has been one of the hottest ever summers on record there and locally “thee hottest” for many areas.. Here in Scotland, on the tail end of what has been overall yet another dissapointing summer, we firstly endure torrents of rain and strong winds a few days ago, only to be given way to a fresh north wind on the backside of that wind and torrential rain bearing weather system which pulls Arctic air down, hangs over our heads and then with clear skies and light winds, allows any surface heat to escape back to space under increasingly longer hours of darkness at night and thus with those ingredients in place, drops us to the coldest levels since early May, which incidentally brought us also a slightly unusual batch of cold weather for the time of year.. Both spring and fall has bookened the typical British summer with colder than normal temperatures and even mountain snow which I saw en-route from Inverness back to Bathgate this morning.

My low at my house dropped off to 31 degrees, cold enough for frost to form and to grab and dust down that heavy coat.. As I drove my truck up through the Cairngorm National Park during the overnight hours on my typical nightshift to and from Inverness, the temperatures were held above that seen down along the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh as winds were brisk and at times rain bearing clouds were overhead and dampening my windscreen with, at times, hefty showers. At times, those rains were coming down over 1,000ft in elevation terrain, north of Aviemore and temperatures were actually cold enough to support snow as it was only 3C or 38F. The lowest levels of the atmosphere must have remained warm enough to rain and not snow but with a air temperature of 36 degrees near Dalwhinnie and a stiff enough wind to blow my truck around a bit, the windchill was likely well into the mid-20s!! That’s cold for late Sept for sure…

Impressive were the numbers, particularly so within the Edinburgh to Glasgow urban belt but more so illustrative of just how cold the air pocketed within the trough over was in order to support this type of cold and still only be in Seotember. It’s also shown during the daytime hours when the sun is shinning and the temps remain in the low to mid-50s!!!

The heat is certainly impressive over the East with 93 degrees at Atlantic City, NJ and a stunning 99 at Washington DC. Also and just as impressive is the fact that as of 9.30pm last night, Jesse Ferrell wrote on facebook at how State College, PA which is over 1,000ft in elevation remained at a “hot” 80 degrees, yes at 9.30 AT NIGHT and for any time of year and at that location and elevation, that would be impressive, but for late September? That’s nearly unheard of for sure…

OTHER IMPRESSIVE HIGHS FROM YESTERDAY ARE:

Salisbury, MD 95 degrees

Norfolk, VA 96 degrees

By Mark Vogan

Heat Sets New Records In Northeast Friday
AccuWeather News

Gulf Coast Tropical Potential Late Next Week
AccuWeather News

Tropical Storm Matthew drenches Honduras
CNN

Today’s Weather across America
From AccuWeather

California Heat Wave to Persist into Early Next Week
AccuWeather

Potential For Significant Rain Event in the East Next Week
AccuWeather

What’s Reaching Today’s Blogs?

2 Extraordinary Weeks In A Row !!!

Paul Douglas Weather Column, WeatherNation
Devil’s Lake Flooding Update
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather

Hot Weather Leads to Wet Weather and Hurricanes Next Week
Henry Margusity, AccuWeather

The Extremes of the Day

Today’s US Extremes
Courtesy of AccuWeather

High: 112 degrees at Death Valley, CA
Low: 23 degrees at West Yellowstone, MT

Today’s UK Extremes
Courtesy of the Met Office

High: 60 degrees at Plymouth (Devon)
Low: 29 degrees at Katesbridge ( Co Down)

Today’s Extremes here at my house


High: 54 degrees
Low: 31 degrees


TODAY’S COND
A cold night and start to the day across the country and especially so where skies remained clear and winds light. The heart of the Central Belt region saw the first freezing temperatures since early May and was actually colder than further north were clouds and rain held temperatures to a couple of degrees above freezing, snow was likely falling over the mountains where fresh snow is visible and lying over the Cairngorm peaks both east and west of the A9. After an unseasonably cold start to Sept 25, it remained cool, especially in the shade despite an abundance of sunshine.

Thanks for reading.
-Mark