A strong and persistent ridge of high pressure will keep us warm and dry throughout the rest of the week. High temperatures will rise to near record levels in the low 60s through Saturday, after which they will fall back into the 50s through the middle of next week. At this time, even though we will see variable amounts of cloudiness during the next week, I don’t see any real chance of getting any rain or snow out of them.

“I have a question that has been bugging me. I often notice that the eastern half of the country will have very cold and wet weather, but here on the west coast, we’ve been “sweltering” under unusually warm weather. Now, I can see having one or the other, but not at the same time. Is there any connection between the two?”

You bet there is!  In fact, you can generally make a pretty good guess at what kind of weather is occurring on the other side of the country by observing what is going on here, and predicting the opposite. (Or you can call your Aunt Mabel in Philadelphia, but that kind of defeats the purpose of this week’s column.)

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why.