THE DOG DAYS OF JUNE COMETH

It’s been a rough spring so far. The Grim Reaper in the guise of EF-4 and EF-5 twisters stalking the southern Plains and Deep South; a flood worthy of Biblical times washing down the Mississippi Valley; and Texans fearing the appearance of Bedouins on camels as the landscape withers under unprecedented drought.

But wait, there’s more.

Medium-range computer models are suggesting the Dog Days of June–not August–are ready to pounce.

An upper-level high pressure ridge, the purveyor of sizzling heat, is forecast to flex its muscle from Texas to New England as we flip the calendar from May to June. The center of this Sasquatch-on-steroids anticyclone is expected to settle over the upper Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic region as the smoke from Memorial Day cookouts fades away.

The Climate Prediction Center certainly sees it coming. Its outlook from Memorial Day into the first week of June calls for above average temperatures to bake virtually the entire eastern half of the U.S. (see image). This doesn’t mean thermometer readings are going to be just a smidgen above early June norms, we’re talking mid-summer heat here. Okay, heat wave. Except maybe for the Eastern Seaboard from Virginia south to Florida. Only typical summer mugginess should prevail there.

Of course, the predicted Sumo ridge does not augur well for Texas’ expanding desert. Bedouin sightings seem a virtual certainty.

All of this makes one–or many?–wonder about the upcoming hurricane season. It seems as if we’re on a roll. A really bad one.

IMAGE: The Climate Prediction Center’s temperature outlook for May 30 – June 3. Browns are above average, blues below average; the deeper the color, the more likely the occurrence.