The extreme upper air pattern remains in place across the US with record heat along with raging wildfires in Southern California while the heat remains over the Ohio Valley but it’s been squashed on the Northeast coast thanks to an easterly wind. The chill remains over the heartland with a low down to at least 10F in Leadville, CO this morning.

Here’s the jet stream setup by 06z Thursday off the GFS and the most striking aspect is sharp buckling.

The 850mb temperatures show just how warm the air mass is on both ends of the country while unusually chilly in between.

For some perspective, here’s the 850mb ANOMALY on those 850mb temps above. How far above and below normal they are.

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The cold pool/trough slides east next 2-3 days with CA heat spreading into Plains. Will allow Denver to heat back up.

48 hrs

72 hrs

Check out the forecasted lows tonight off the GFS. Another very cold night in the mountains of Colorado, 20s over parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota.

The deep trough continues to slide slowly east and as it does it will set up a corridor in which deep, tropical moisture can run along. Low pressure over the OH Valley while the Bermuda high gets shifted out over the Atlantic, sets up a warm, moisture rich fire hose which originates deep within the Caribbean.

You can see it on this GFS surface chart.

QPF still has big numbers through the next 72 hrs. My concern is still that some of these totals could occur within 6-12 hours and not 72.

As for the heat, well it’s downright HOT of course in California. Tinderbox conditions with blazing sun, gusty winds and that means exceptionally high fire danger.

Projected highs this afternoon according to the NWS.

Heat is widespread throughout California, here’s the Central Valley and Bay Area today.

Check out this visible satellite image captured earlier showing the plumes of smoke from the 3 big wildfires between LA and San Diego blowing out over the ocean. This shows the strong ENE wind blowing this afternoon.

A further out view shows the smoke in SoCal but also the snow still in the Sierra.

Here’s a map just released by 10News showing the positions of the 7 active wildfires burning in SD County.

Be sure to check out today’s video. Will have more on the medium and longer term tomorrow. Have a great night.

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Tags: california heat, heatwave, san diego wildfire, wildfire