Northeast to ride temperature roller coaster into next week
After temperatures bottom out at levels more typical of early October through Thursday in the Northeast, a warming trend will begin and may end with a summer heat surge in some areas next week, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
A large storm is largely responsible for the refreshing but unseasonably cool conditions with low humidity from the Great Lakes to the coastal areas of the Northeast and even into much of the interior southeastern United States.
Many people woke up Wednesday morning to chilly temperatures, with some areas as much as 20 degrees lower than the seasonal average for this time of year in the coolest spots.
 |
Perhaps the chilliest night of the cool air outbreak will be Wednesday night with widespread low temperatures in the 40s and 50s over the region. Temperatures will bottom out in the low 60s near the Chesapeake Bay.
At midweek, high temperatures will ranged from the low 60s over the northern tier and in the higher mountains of the central Appalachians to close to 80 around the Chesapeake Bay. Where the air was chilliest at the jet stream level, showers dampened central and eastern New England and parts of the central Appalachians.
 |
"Temperatures will gradually ratchet up through the weekend," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines said, "But humidity levels will recover at a slower pace."
By the weekend, temperatures should be back close to the historical average, with highs ranging from near the 80-degree mark over the northern tier to the middle to upper 80s around the Chesapeake Bay.
A multiple-day stretch of rain-free weather is in store that will last through much of the region once New England dries out after midweek.
 |
Despite the drier pattern, the setup will become conducive to late-night and early-morning valley fog later this week and this weekend as nighttime winds will be light, the sky will be clear, and a gradual uptick in moisture will occur.
"Over the weekend, humidity levels will probably be back up to typical late-August levels, but not to the magnitude portions of the midsummer delivered," Kines said.
Farther to the west, extreme heat will continue to build and expand northward over the Great Plains this weekend to early next week.
"At some point, around the middle days of next week, some of that heat with high humidity will spike in the Northeast," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said.
 |
Areas most likely to have highs in the 90s for a couple of days will be from southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey southwestward through Virginia and West Virginia, Dombek explained. There may be a little more resistance to the big heat surging back in New England and into upstate New York. Highs in the 80s will be more common in these northeastern locations.
"That heat surge will tend to occur ahead of another strong push of cool air that will invade the Midwest by the middle of next week with eyes for the Northeast late next week," Dombek said.
So a temperature roller coaster is in store for the Northeast with the bottom of the hill being the middle of this week, then the top of the big hill for the middle of next week.
Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts? are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.