The first week of June will really get us into a summery pattern…at least insofar as temperatures are concerned. A ridge of high pressure will push the storm track well to the north, keeping our skies clear and raising our temperatures to near mid-summer conditions. Saturday’s high will reach the mid to upper 80s, and many locations will reach the low 90s by Sunday. Those highs will ease back into the mid-80s over the course of the next work week, but shouldn’t drop any lower into the next weekend.

Change in pressure is the most mentioned reason as to why arthritic patients’ joints hurt with the approach of a storm. But Steve doesn’t buy that it: “My wife has serious osteoarthritis and can often detect an approaching low, so she is sensitive to whatever it is that triggers the increase in pain in her joints. But it’s not due to the reduction of atmospheric pressure. If she were, she would be in serious pain every time we drive up to Truckee or Tahoe. That never happens!”

Steve brings up an intriguing point, and it serves to show that while pressure changes still remains the most accepted explanation for weather-related pain, the jury is still out. The answer is likely a combination of several factors, possibly including pressure change, but it seems like that’s not the only thing going on.