Cold Waters and High Waves on the Great Lakes

Today station 45004 on Lake Superior is still reporting water temperature of just 38F. The normal for late July is in the mid 50s.

On Lake Michigan, 33 knot north winds produced 11.4 foot waves at the Michigan City, IN buoy yesterday morning. The large waves produced enough upwelling to drop the water temperature to 58.8 F at the southern Lake Michigan buoy. Water temperatures were around 61 before the big waves hit, which is already about 10 degrees below normal.

Northern Plains Heat

Heat advisories stretch from Wichita Falls, TX to Duluth, MN today:

The temperature reached 108 in Winner, SD today, with dew point of 52. At York, NE the temperature was 97, the dew point 81, and the heat index 119.

July Cold

Cold air has spread across northern Wisconsin this morning. Rhinelander had a low temperature of 41, Eagle River 38, and Land O' Lakes 37. Temperatures will likely drop into the 40s in Iowa and Illinois by Monday night (July 14).

Hurricane Arthur Update

Hurricane Arthur has strengthened to category 2 with wind at 85 knots (100 mph) and a central pressure of 973 mb. Winds have gusted to 73 knots (84 mph) at Cape Lookout, NC and to 79.1 knots (89.9 mph) at Hatteras, NC. Station 41036 (south of Morehead City) has reported 28.9 foot waves. Hurricane Arthur is beginning to accelerate to the northeast and will impact New England and Nova Scotia tomorrow.

Some recent satellite and radar history of Arthur:

 

Hurricane Arthur

Hurricane Arthur is now a category one hurricane with winds at 80 knots, and a central pressure of 980 mb. Arthur is moving north toward North Carolina, but a trough approaching the East Coast will cause a turn to the northeast later today. The center of Arthur will most likely pass over Cape Hatteras, but all of the North Carolina coast will be affected with high winds. A station at Wrightsville Beach, NC (near Wilmington) has already reported a 52 knot wind gust. With Arthur passing over water temperatures in the lower 80s, and with weak shear, some strengthening is likely over the next 24 hours.