>FIRE, ICE, WIND AND RAIN (Updated from this morning!)

Flames in La Crescenta
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A U.S. Forest Service firefighter battles flames in La Crescenta.

Cloudiest summer on record for Chicago and 60s for highs the past week is a first to end August according to Meteorologist Tom Skilling of WGN-TV, Chicago. A borderline cat-5 Jimena set to strike western Baja of California. Frost settles on suburban Midwest cities whilst Scotland gets doused in what’s got to be one of the wettest Augusts on record. Rain’s haven’t stopped and they’re HEAVY!

There’s a lot happening and it can be tough trying to follow everything. The weather is one of those things that I’ve found every year it seems to get busier.

From the devastating wildfires that continue to scorch more and more of Southern California, to 155 mph Hurricane Jimena, Frost/Ice across the upper Midwest where lows dropped to 27 at Embarrass, Minn as Arctic high pressure transports a cold pool down from the increasingly cooler regions of the Arctic to the Midwest. Dry Canadian air is allowing for beautiful mild September days and cool, clear cold nights as frost forms out in rural areas for the first time since spring. Stark contrast as the warm pool that is stretching out of the Southwest to southern Hudson Bay where an 83 degree-high was found all the way up to Churchill, Manitoba. This warm pool has ridden up and over the cool pool that is over the Midwest, that is why high’s along the western shore of Hudson Bay was warmer than reas surrounding the Great Lakes (warm pool over cold pool)..

A Major wet pattern continues locked in place across the northern half of the British Isles bringing us the second straight near or record breaking Wet July-August period..

Southern California is actually reporting light showers over the north LA area and from what I can see other areas across Southern California, however, despite the weakening of the upper ridge parked over the Southwest and Southern California humidity is still too low to build hopes up and the fires are still growing and threatening more and more homes by the hour. The huge Station Fire and it’s unusual speed of growth has been blamed on excessive drought conditions and high heat, low humidity. Luckily, winds have not been much of a factor is spreading the fires. But increased aridness throughout the dense brush covering the hills across the LA and Southern California area is making for perfect conditions as well as strong high pressure that’s keeping temperatures brutally hot by day and remaining warm at night, though as the high starts to weaken and heights lower, therefore temps aloft are cooling off and reacting to surface reading where beaches have cooled onsiderably and this allowing the marine layer to start coming ashore again with results being low cloud and fog by night and inceased daytime sea breeze, the interior LA basin, canyons and valleys still remain well into the 90s and low 100s but each day appears to see a 1-3 degree reduction in temperature from the day before. What is a concern however is a possible increase in winds, despite rains this morning that dissapate as the air heats throughout the day, these rains will have little effect in affecting the monster fires and if Santa Anas do come, it may spell disaster. I wonder if a Santa Ana was driving this Station fire, how much worse could this already severe and scary situation be?

Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

-Mark