THIS EVENING & TONIGHT…
A FROST ADVISORY is in effect for most of Connecticut for late tonight and early tomorrow morning. Southern portions of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London Counties are not included in the advisory.
It is going to be another clear, chilly night. Temperatures will fall back through the 50s after sunset (6:49 this evening), then into the 40s in many outlying areas by midnight. Overnight lows will be in the 30s and lower 40s.
THE FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN…
The autumnal equinox will occur tomorrow morning at 9:31. It is shaping up to be a very nice day to kick off the new season, although there will be a strong north or northwesterly breeze since we’ll be on the western fringe of Hurricane Teddy’s circulation. The center of Teddy is expected to pass 300 to 400 miles to the east of New England late tomorrow and tomorrow night. Portions of the New England Coast are under a high surf advisory, and a coastal flood advisory. Cape Cod and the Islands are also under a wind advisory. Gusts up to 60 mph are possible on Nantucket! Eastern portions of the Cape could see gusts up to 55 mph.
Here in Connecticut, the sky will be mostly sunny, although we may see some fringe clouds from Teddy. That is especially true over Eastern Connecticut. Temperatures will reach the upper 60s and lower 70s tomorrow afternoon, which is a little closer to normal. The normal, or average, high for September 22nd for the Greater Hartford Area is 73 degrees.
Tomorrow night will be partly cloudy to clear, and it won’t be nearly as chilly as recent nights. Lows will be in the 40s to near 50. It will be a breezy evening, then the wind will become a little lighter overnight.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY…
It is going to feel more like summer again! Highs Wednesday will be in the upper 70s, and highs Thursday and Friday will be near 80 degrees! Nighttime lows will be mostly in the 50s. Sky conditions will vary from partly to mostly sunny. There may be a slight chance for a shower late Thursday with a week frontal boundary. Otherwise, the very dry conditions will continue.
THE FIRST WEEKEND OF AUTUMN…
The warm weather will carry over into the weekend. Highs Saturday will be near 80 again, and highs on Sunday will range from 75-80. Saturday will be partly to mostly sunny. We should see a little more cloud cover on Sunday, and a shower is possible. Otherwise, we can expect a partly sunny day.
NEXT WEEK…
After a long stretch of unusually dry weather, there will be a good chance for showers on Monday. That’s when low pressure and a cold front will swing through Southern New England. While it won’t be a drought buster, we’ll take any rain we can get. Portions of Connecticut remain in a severe to extreme drought. There may be another chance for showers on Tuesday with the arrival of another cold front.
THE FIRST FREEZE…
On average, the first freeze (32 degrees or lower) in the Greater Hartford Area occurs on October 14th. The earliest freeze on record was on September 20th in 1979, when the low was 30 degrees. The latest first freeze occurred on November 11th in 1920. This morning, the temperature dipped to 34 degrees at Bradley International Airport, which was only 3 degrees above the record low of 31 degrees, set on September 21st in 1962.
SEPTEMBER BENCHMARKS…
Tuesday, September 1st, marked the beginning of the meteorological autumn! For record keeping purposes, the meteorological autumn is all of September, October, and November. Officially, autumn begins 3 weeks from today, on Tuesday, September 22nd. The autumnal equinox will occur at 9:31 am.
During the month of September, the average high drops from 80 degrees on the 1st to 69 degrees on the 30th. The average low drops from 58 degrees on the 1st to 47 degrees on the 30th. We also lose 1 hour and 20 minutes of daylight!
A RECORD WARM AND DRY METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER…
The average temperature from June 1st through August 31st (meteorological summer) was 74.4 degrees at Bradley International Airport, which represents the Greater Hartford Area. This is a tie for the hottest summer on record, and official records date back to 1905! The meteorological summer of 1973 also had an average temperature of 74.4 degrees. Originally, we reported an average temperature of 74.5 degrees for the meteorological summer, which would have been a new record instead of a tie. However, the average temperature has been corrected downward by 0.1 degrees.
The other record of note was the temperature reaching 90 degrees or higher at total of 39 days, which breaks the previous record of 38 days, set in 1983. The seasonal average is 17 days. Not only was this a record for the meteorological summer, it was also a record for any year. It is still possible to have a few more days with highs near 90 degrees this month.
Yet another record was broken. It was driest summer on record in the Greater Hartford Area! Only 4.42” of rain was measured from June 1st through August 31st, which broke the previous summer record of 4.75” in 1965. The deficit was 8.04”. Conversely, in Bridgeport, the deficit was negligible (0.07”) with a total of 10.96” of rain over the same time period.
Chief Meteorologist Bruce DePrest
“Copyright 2020 WFSB (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved”
Copyright 2020 WFSB (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved