This Ridge Over the Southwest May Be Amongst the Strongest on Record

I think this is for the “it’s summer” crowd.

Record-breaking weather is fascinating, no matter the form it takes, because it means something very unique has happened in the atmosphere to allow for a new extreme to take shape. The ridge currently over the SW US is amongst the strongest on record.

But where is the ridge going, and when can we get back to monsoon chasing? That’s the question I’ll hope to answer in this newsletter.

But That Ridge

I have been seeing something on the GFS that doesn’t pop up often, a 600 DAM high center. Look at the area in NM:

Why is this significant? When the pressure is this high in the atmosphere, the ongoing heating underneath will be pretty strong (and has been).

High pressure tends to limit storm activity, especially over the southwest. When it is positioned where it is, moisture is shunted away from the region and the air dries out, and because of this, the temperature will tend to rise higher.

That high pressure is sign…