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

LATEST ON MEXICO LANDSLIDE
BREAKING NEWS
7 known dead, more than 100 missing in Mexico
LA Times

1,000 people could be trapped in Mexico landslide, governor says
CNN

mark vogan searches for answers to yesterday’s historic heat
WHY DID LOS ANGELES GET SO HOT YESTERDAY?

UPDATE: I spoke with the NWS in Oxnard and with the combination of factors coming together of east, northeast flow of air, strong upper-level ridge of high pressure and most likely one of the biggest culprits was the 105 degree high the previous day and very warm night lows, likely set the base for extreme warming once the sun rose over the mountains to the east, the flow of air cranked up out of the northeast, which downsloped, compressed and warmed, bringing “enhancement of heating” within an already hot air mass as well as a flow of offshore winds which drove out to sea the marine layer, allowing a slower than normal push of air onshore along the beaches… These factors likely allowed the magnitude of heating yesterday!

Yes, I understand the Southern California micro-climate, the strong ridge of high pressure that was overhead, even an easterly or northeasterly wind flow that crossed the mountains en-route to LA and the Pacific, but why or why did it go from a 20-year high of 105-degrees to an unbelievable 113-degrees in Downtown LA the following day to set a new all-time record?

I remember well the heat wave of July 2006 which roasted Woodland Hills on the west end of the San Fernando Valley (north of LA) to 119 degrees.. That day saw a high top 101 degrees Downtown. The upper-level pattern appears to be very similar between yesterday and back on that day in July 2006, yet Downtown recorded a high 12 degrees warmer yesterday to back in 2006. As for Woodland Hills, they were 9 degrees cooler yesterday to 2006’s historic reading for the county of LA.

Yes, I understand that highly localised winds can bring enhanced heating to specific areas over the southwest of California. There’s complex geography in this region and this is a region in which I’ve followed the weather for several years and understand the climate and georgraphy of this region, however I am scratching my head as to how it got as hot as it did right bang slap in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles. Indeed I do understand how the areas near the beaches got well into the 100s, afterall if Downtown reaches 113, it’s only natural to think that the beach communities could top between 104 and 110 given the wind flow.

What I’m struggling to fathom is the fact that there was little in the way of a strong east to northeast flow over the mountains to the east and north of the basin, the actual high itself that was overhead, didn’t appear to have heights that were through the roof… The overall setup yesterday supported a “hot day” but it didn’t appear to have anything out of the ordinary that suggested this setup is different to other days which brought 100-degree heat across the LA Basin.  

OTHER NEWS TODAY

September snow in Cairngorms could be signal of another bitter winter
Daily Record

Weather stations report big freeze
The Herald

WEATHER: SNOWY NIGHT IS THE COLDEST IN 30 YEARS
The Daily Express

Rain Challenges Records in the East
AccuWeather News
2010 Pakistan Floods: Climate Change or Natural Variability?
ICECAP

Today’s Weather across America
From AccuWeather

Severe Weather Threat Philadelphia, New York City, Boston Tuesday
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Record Warmth for Interior West
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Weather Talk
By Mark Vogan

What A Difference a Year Makes
Northeast was “cold last year” with no 90s in July for I-95 except DC, this year, some of these same cities that hit 90 only 10 to 15 times in 2009 have seen nearly 60 such days in 2010

This summer has been nothing short of amazing and it seems as though we’ve just seen extreme after extreme after extreme in 2010.

Yesterday’s 113 degree high in Los Angeles is just the latest extreme but when looking back it’s just been a summer of endless wild weather. Remember back to the heat of mid-summer for the Northeast? The 105 in Baltimore, 103 in both Philadelphia and New York, not forgetting the fact that just this week saw remarkable heat in the same spots, bringing a sense of when will summer end this year? Of course DC also saw only the heels of a exceptionally long and hot summer, a high of 99 degrees, the hottest reading so late in the season.

All the tremendous floods that we’ve seen over the Midwest and Northern Plains which seems like this has become a summer-thing in these parts over the past 2-3 years now as this year has seen Wisconsin (currently) struggle with record floods as well as across Texas, again Texas like the Upper Midwest appears to be enduring a recurring summer pattern which is producing record or near record rains and flooding, remember the 10+ inches that flooded Corpus Christi just 10 or so days ago? 

TREMENDOUS RAINS THIS WEEK, LIKELY TO ERASE THE DRY SOILS OVER THE EAST

Now it’s looking like the North Carolina areas which have seen bucket loads of rain and is currently producing flooding, won’t be the only areas on the East Coast to see excessive, flooding rains over the rest of this week…. After a extended period of dry weather, stemed from a long, hot and dry summer for most areas east of the Mississippi, a corridor of major rains is is set to lash the east from the spine of the Appalachains to the Atlantic coast, a large area of 4-6 inches of rain is possible and this may be enhanced by tropical development over the Caribbean (presently, now become TD 16) which is expected to ride north up the East Coast over the next 4-7 days. Some interior areas, within the mountains and just east and west may see pockets of 10 to 12 inches of rain…

I knew it was Cold but not the coldest in 30 years!

The cold nights of the past weekend saw lows drop to -1C here at my house but a much more impressive -4.4C or 24 degrees. This was in fact the lowest in 30 years for Scotland and was recorded at Tyndrum, Stirlingshire. The cold came along with about 2 inches of fresh snow which brought the arrival of winter early, bookending our overall dissapointing summer with the unusual cold and snoy period in early May.

A very “blocky” pattern since the end of last year has brought an extreme winter in 09-10, then a dissapointing summer as the trough persisted after high pressure domiated the first half of summer, the question is, will winter 10-11 be as bad as last? The hype to a repeat has begun in the media….

What’s Reaching Today’s Blogs?

28 Inches of Rain: Mexico Flooding and Landslide
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather
Big Rain: The Sequel
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather

Today’s US Extremes
Courtesy of AccuWeather (as of 3pm ET)

High: 108 degrees at San Luis Obispo, CA
Low: 26 degrees at Stanley, ID

Today’s Extremes here at my house

High: 57 degrees
Low: 52 degrees

Thanks for reading.
-Mark