SUNSHINE RETURNS: I love how the Saturday afternoon sun trended on my Facebook news feed. We all get mostly sunny skies for most of Sunday. In the afternoon, you’ll notice more clouds in the sky in Perry, Mifflin, Juniata, Cumberland, Dauphin, and Lebanon counties–just enough to call the skies partly sunny. We get those clouds from a piece of energy passing to our north.
SUNSHINE ENCORES: On Monday, we’ll see sun, but we’ll also see some clouds in the sky, particularly south of the Turnpike in counties like Franklin, Adams, York, and Lancaster. Eventually, those clouds take over the sky for everyone Monday night.
MORE CLOUDS: We’ve got pretty cloudy skies Tuesday through midday Friday. A spot of two will see a shower Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, we’ll have more spotty showers than Tuesday. On Thursday, expect fewer spotty showers than Wednesday.
WETTER WEATHER: Then, on Friday, we all get showers and even a few thunderstorms as a cold front crosses over us. We get those widespread showers and storms for the first half of the day. Friday evening, some sun breaks through the clouds. Another cold front crosses over us on Saturday with clouds and widespread showers. Then, sunnier weather returns next Sunday.
TEMPERATURES CLIMB: With the sun on Sunday, we get more seasonal highs in the upper 60s. Though, it will feel a touch cool with the breezy weather we’ll have tomorrow. On Monday, we touch the low 70s with the help of a west wind.
WARM WIND: When our air comes from the west and falls down the Appalachian Mountains, it warms us up. Think of us living in a “sea” of air. We live at the bottom of the air “ocean.” When air falls to the bottom of the air ocean, it get squeezed and compressed because of the pressure of the surrounding “ocean” of air. Compression warms up air because the gases that makes up our air has less space to move. It bounces into other gases and starts moving faster. It’s like a pinball game. The ball moves faster when it hits those mushroom-like things. Well, temperature measures how fast the air moves, so when air moves faster, it has a higher temperature.
MILD WEATHER: So, despite having more clouds in the sky on Monday than Sunday, we still get higher temperatures because of that west wind. It’s surprising how big of a role the geography around Central PA affects the weather here. Look for temperatures in the low to mid 70s for the rest of the week ahead.
-Meteorologist Drew Anderson
