Cooler pattern may be sticking around

Temperatures over the past week have ranged anywhere between 10° to 20° below average and if you're hoping for any significant warm up it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.  So, what's the cause for the cooler weather?

A fairly persistent low pressure system in Canada has cause a buckle in the jet stream pattern.  The jet stream is the driving force, or 'interstate', for storm systems and is also responsible for bringing down cooler air from the north and warmer air from the south.  A long wave trough, or dip in the jet stream, has been stuck in place across the Great Lakes and East Coast while a ridge of high pressure has been present in the West and Southwest and up into Alaska.  In fact, Fairbanks and Anchorage Alaska have had one of their warmest spells on record for the summer months.  When the weather pattern remains persistent it's hard to break and usually takes some sort of shift in the overall atmospheric pattern for change to occur.  This change will eventually happen but likely not within the first two weeks in August.  The two week outlook from the Climate Prediction Center indicates temperatures will remain below average across the middle section of the country.  After that, there are some signs that point to a gradual warming trend towards the middle of August.  Even though we've had some gloomy days the 70s and low humidity really haven't been all that bad.  Enjoy them now because I'm sure the 90 degree heat and humidity will return.