Tuesday 8 a.m.
When the temperature reaches a high or low reading that is higher or lower than any previous temperature on record for that date, a new record is established. When the weather is truly extreme, records set during that period represent a high bar for subsequent record attempts. Take Boston, for example. In 1881, the temperatures soared to 102 degrees there on Sept. 7. That's the highest reading for any day in September, and it came later than the other two 100-degree days in September, the 2nd and 3rd in 1953. On the low end, before today, the record low for this date (Sept. 17) in Boston was 45 set in 1986; 45 degrees represents the highest record low for any date in the last half of September, so we could say it was vulnerable. This morning, the temperature dropped to 44 degrees at Logan International Airport (symbol BOS), setting a new record. The record high for the date is 91, set in 1915.
The year 1915 (as does any year before 1923) raises an issue about where the official Boston records are and were kept. The Boston airport was first used for landings on June 13, 1923. In 1927, Colonial Air (a predecessor to American Airlines) started the first commercial service between New York City and Boston). Until Logan was established as the official record keeping site for Boston, the weather records were kept at a city location (as was the case in many cities before airports came into existence). This raises the question of how representative various records are because they may have been taken at changed locations with different characteristics.
Here is today's video forecast:
Looking at the tropics, there is activity, but most of it so far has not affected the U.S. mainland. The H storm, Humberto, is in the east-central Atlantic and has not been well organized. In 1989 on this date, the H storm was Hugo, and it was a monster that roared ashore in South Carolina days later. In 1954, the H storm was Hazel in mid-October. The storm came inland at Myrtle Beach, S.C., and was still strong enough to knock down thousands of trees in Pennsylvania as it sped northward.
There is an area of disturbed weather near the Bahamas, and it may strengthen. A new storm could also form in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and replace Ingrid. This map shows the arrangement of features in the Atlantic basin as of early the morning.
This map shows where the storms were at 10:18 AM ET. That cluster of storms may hold together, but in response to daytime heating, new ones can pop up at other places this afternoon.
On this map, two such features (short waves) stand out today. The one in Ohio caused some thunderstorms in Michigan and Indiana yesterday. The other short wave is causing thunderstorms this morning from western Wisconsin to northern Missouri.
Scotty the Dog will be four-months-old in four days. On walks during hot weather, he is quick to seek out shady spots. He has yet to experience any cold weather, but he looks like he will be ready when it arrives (not any time soon!).
Erika's heavy rainfall separated into two areas yesterday. This is the Morehead City, North Carolina, radar, showing an area of heavy rain and thunderstorms that dumped more 4 inches of rain on parts of the coastal Carolinas this morning.
Tropical Storm Erika could eventually affect Florida and other sections of the Gulf Coast or Southeast, but for now it poses no threat for the Northeast. This map shows the storm as of early this morning.
The second concern is Erika. The map below shows what many different models area saying. While there is a good agreement in the short range, the longer-range spread is quite larger, with tracks ...