It will feel more like Thanksgiving than Memorial Day weekend in parts of the Northeast
A sharp drop in temperatures will make late November feel more like late May in part of the Northeast after a spell of record heat.
After facing summer-like temperatures early in the week, cooler weather will follow across the Northeast heading into Memorial Day weekend, with parts of the Mid-Atlantic receiving rain.
The Northeast has faced a serious weather whiplash in recent weeks, with temperatures swinging wildly between records and minimums. The ride will last through the weekend, with more typical November temperatures replacing recent summer heat, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
“The roller coaster of seemingly endless temperatures this spring will continue through the Memorial Day holiday with another significant cool-down across the northeastern quarter of the country,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.
High temperatures in the 90s as recently as Wednesday along the Interstate 95 corridor in the Mid-Atlantic states were replaced by temperatures in the 50s and 60s Thursday afternoon, with this cool air likely to persist and even intensify over the next few days.
In Philadelphia, after the first heat wave of the season and a 98-degree day Tuesday, the highest May reading on record, the mercury was expected to remain stuck in the 50s all day Saturday, with an AccuWeather RealFeel® temperature in the 40s due to expected rain and wind. These conditions are more typical of Thanksgiving weekend than Memorial Day weekend.
Recently, State College, Pennsylvania, went from a high of 49 degrees on May 14, a historic low for that date, to a near-record 90 degrees four days later on May 18. This Saturday, a forecast high of 48 would be the lowest ever recorded for that day, by 3 degrees with conditions more typical of late November.
Reliable records have been kept in Philadelphia since 1872 and at State College since 1893.
“For parts of interior Pennsylvania where it’s raining steadily all day Saturday, RealFeel temperatures may struggle to reach 40,” said Dan Pydynowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist.
The impetus for the cool air, as has been the case during recent bouts of cool weather, was a strong cold front that gave rise to a cool air mass in Canada. With strong areas of high pressure anchored near Atlantic Canada and off the East Coast, cold air won’t be in a hurry to get out.
Recent cold snaps have also been accompanied by threats of frost and freezes, and this one will be no different. Temperatures near freezing or below freezing are expected to threaten sensitive vegetation in parts of upstate New York and northern New England Friday and Saturday morning, in what could be the last widespread event of the season.
Further south, although no frost or frost is expected, cold weather combined with rain will dampen pool openings and beach days during the Memorial Day holiday Monday. This also took a toll on early season plants.
“This continuing trend of large temperature swings has clearly taken a toll on plants and agriculture across the Northeast, as the region has gone from record heat to severe frosts, then back to leaf-destroying heat and now another cold spell,” Anderson said.
In this April 14, 2010 photo, flowers prepare to bloom on a Cortland apple tree branch at Lookout Farm in Natick, Massachusetts. An upcoming frost could affect fruit trees in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Ironically, the warmest weather of the holiday weekend in the Northeast will occur in the same regions — northern New York and New England — that could start a few mornings with frost, with high temperatures reaching 70 in many places before cooler, wetter weather arrives Sunday and Monday.
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So when can the entire region expect to warm up again? The answer lies in the middle of the new week and beyond, when the mercury is expected to rebound near late May averages, which are mostly in the mid-to-high 70s.
Despite the warming trend expected for the end of the month, summer weather enthusiasts shouldn’t expect record heat in the 90s again for some time.
“Sneaky cold fronts are expected to continue moving south from eastern Canada from late May to mid-June,” said Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather’s chief long-range forecaster. “This will largely derail any attempt at prolonged warm spells for the Northeast.”
Astronomical summer officially arrives in the Northeast and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere at 4:24 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 21.
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