Chilling This Summer
Chilling This Summer
Where did the summer go? Mother Nature has been extra kind to our air conditioning bills and sweat glands these past months. It has been Boston’s fourth-coolest two-month period since 1872 and one of the wettest as well. Has something gone awry?
Let the finger pointing begin. Is it global warming? The lack of sunspots? The recent volcanic eruption in Alaska? The impending El Nino? A diabolical Hollywood weather machine?
Actually, the truth is there is no obvious smoking gun. It’s probably probability. Weather is a creature of chance and the odds have been favoring abnormally cool weather for New England most of the summer.
What we do know is that the difference in atmospheric pressure between the North Pole and mid-latitudes has been unusually low this summer. This has allowed storm tracks to be pushed farther south than normal for this time of year, deflecting warm air away from the Northeast. However, there are rumblings in the long range forecasts that this stubborn pattern will break by the middle of the month and summer chilling may turn into bouts of summer roasting before we descend into autumn.