New York City Canyon Sunsets
Truly spectacular sunsets this week.. Yesterday, Dr. Hamway asked me when the Canyon sunsets in New York City take place. I couldn't recall the exact date, so I looked in the archive of jeffsweather.com from last year. The dates fall on May 28th and July 13th. At this time, the sun is perfectly aligned with NYC streets. While the technical date was 2 days ago, you can still see it this entire week. The reason for this is that Manhattans grid is angled 30 degrees east from geographic north. On May 28, the Sun's rays fall exactly parallel to the Manhattan skyline. If you happen to be somewhere in the city that has an unobstructed view of the New Jersey horizon, you'll be able to see the sun cross every cross-street in city. You can check it out tomorrow as well and the next day. I shot these tonight. Truly amazing! It looked like supernova. As I walked away, I could barely see anything but bright white lights.
Forecast looks good for this week as a large ridge of high pressure is setting up just off the Northeast coast on Tuesday. The ridge will remain in place till Friday resulting in dry weather and mostly sunny skies from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast. Conditions will also start to heat up as southerly winds will allow warmer air to move into the area, giving many places an early taste of summer. Highs will rise into the low to mid-80s as far north as northern New England on Thursday and Friday. Even the Appalachians and coastal areas, typically the cooler parts of the region, will approach 80 degrees as some of the warmest air so far moves in, just ahead of the upcoming holiday weekend.
The Northeast summer forecast is out. Accuweather meteorologist Joe Bastardi predicts that the Northeast will see an above average summer in terms of temperature anomalies. This includes all the major cities along the corridor. The forecast is derived by looking at current trends very similar to those in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s which were also over active tropical cyclone years. At the end of the day, we are in a pattern that may not necessarily be linked to global warming, even though many experts are pointing their fingers at increased emissions as the culprit. The prediction calls for the above normal temperatures to occur in the second half of the summer, so July and August should be hot months for us with a few bouts of heat waves. This is a concern for consumers as we will have to shell out more cash for energy costs, I'll just take many cool showers this summer!
This is May! The weather is supposed to give us a taste of summer and give us weekends to look forward to. The cold and rain is just unacceptable. I was in Boston today and the temperature was 47 degrees at noon. It felt more like a cold March day then late May. So what exactly is going on?? The culprit of this gloomy outlook is a sharpening dip in the jet stream that will take its sweet time rotating through the Northeast the next 3 days. The plunging jet will induce a low to form along a stationary front off the East Coast. Increasingly deep moisture will be wrapped into this front. We will probably start seeing rain along the coastal areas into Friday and could see up to an 1". New England should get the brunt of the heavy rain Friday night into Saturday. Hopefully there will be peaks of sun this weekend but no promises! Best bet, Bring an umbrella. 
Meteorologists are pointing to an above average hurricane Season. Many of the climatological patterns currently occurring or projected for this hurricane season are similar to those of the 1930s through the 1950s, which was a period marked by frenzied hurricane activity. 13-15 storms are predicted this season, with three being a category three or higher. The reason for the overactivity is the occurrence of a weak La Nina - a formation of cooler-than-normal Pacific waters - in the wake of an El Niño at the end of last. The North Atlantic is also in a forecasted Pacific, and diminished dry air over the tropical Atlantic will also play into a big factor. All eyes are on the Florida coastline. 
The subtropical storm is forecast to simply linger off the coast with some slight westward movement toward the Georgia coast. The current forecast calls for the storm to gradually weaken just off the Georgia/South Carolina coast during the next 36 to 48 hours. There is an outside shot of the subtropical storm transitioning to a tropical cyclone. Details of this storm will be closely monitored.
