Here comes the summer solstice 😎

Update #554

☀️ The longest day of the year is this Wednesday, June 21st, when the Hudson Valley enjoys a daylength of 15 hours and 11 minutes. Sunrise is at 5:22 am and sunset 8:33 pm.

Will the weather play the part? Well, after a June that has so far been unseasonably cool, a warming trend is predicted for the late month.

Remarkably, the high temperature hasn’t been above 80 degrees since June 12th, a streak that will likely come to an end on Monday.

With the increase in temperature this week comes an increase in humidity, a trend that will likely fuel some unwelcome scattered showers and storms next weekend as high school seniors walk at graduation 🧑‍🎓 — more on that in a moment…

Forecast details

Monday: partly sunny and seasonably warm; a stray PM shower can’t entirely be ruled out

Tuesday: a little cooler than Monday with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon

Wednesday: not too hot for the solstice with early clouds probably breaking for sun

Thursday: warmer than Wednesday and probably dry

Friday: more humid with a chance for a PM shower or thunderstorm 🌡️

Saturday-Sunday: humid with a chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly in the afternoon and evening 🌦️ — I’ll provide a graduation forecast update later this week on Twitter…

In short, we won’t bust out into a classic, hot, summer-like weather pattern this week. Wind flows will generally favor the south, largely preventing near-surface Canadian wildfire smoke from reach our region 💨

🌀 Watching the tropics: the first hurricane of the season is forecast to form this week in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, thousands of miles away from the Hudson Valley. It’s too early to say exactly where it will go, but it’s at least 7-10 days away from affecting U.S. weather patterns. It’s very early for such activity, but, incredibly, the ocean water in parts of the Atlantic Ocean is as warm as it would typically be in September!

The first hurricane of the season may form this week

Yellow areas indicate where the ocean water is as warm now as it would typically be in September

🔮 In the Hudson Valley, the week of the 26th is looking rather humid and showing signs of being unsettled. The silver lining? It’s good news for avoiding drought…

What I’m working on for premium subscribers: essential charts for understanding climate change in the Hudson Valley. Whether we like it or not, our climate is changing. What I’d like to illustrate is how, creating a series of baseline charts that can be used by educators across the region. I’d like to update the plots every year so that we can track change in near real-time. This project might take me a few weeks, so stay tuned!

Best of Hudson Valley 🥇

This past week, I learned that I had won Hudson Valley Magazine’s Best of Hudson Valley meteorologist category.

What can I say — that’s really cool! It’s your interest in the science behind our skies that keeps me going. I have found that the chance of success is correlated with the time and effort invested into one’s craft. Thomas Jefferson once said “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

Thank you all! 🙏

Sun’s out, drone’s out 🚁

Last weekend was sunny and warm in New Zealand (despite it being winter), which were the only excuses I needed to get the drone up in the sky.

The destination this time was a beach in western Auckland called Piha, home to black, volcanic sands. Typically the winds are swirling vigorously, so to have a day with full sun and little to no wind is like winning the lottery!

I kicked the drone out about five football field lengths offshore and the views were awesome…

Lion Rock; see the remnants of the landslides in the background? Those are from Cyclone Gabrielle, which impacted the country in February

🏄‍♂️

Hope your week is the best ✌️ — congrats to the grads! 🎓