Cooler in the South West this weekend

A high-pressure ridge over the open waters of the Pacific has been pushing east for the past few days. This helped heat up the South West with temperatures in the 90’s on Thursday and Friday with some spots in the triple digits! Other records fell in parts of California and Nevada on Friday.

Highs across the board on Friday were between 15 and 30 degrees above average. However, this was the last day of heat and wind! Much cooler weather is coming for the weekend.

The large anticyclone that has been responsible for this week’s heat is weakening and moving south, bringing warm air with it. At the same time, cooler air from the Pacific Northwest will have room to escape as the high pressure exits.

Saturday will be cooler than earlier this week but still above average in most locations. A bigger temperature drop comes for many on Sunday and Monday. The weekend will still be hot for places like Yuma and Phoenix, which will be some of the last places to be hit by the high pressure before it dissipates.

By early next week many high temperatures in the region will be below average!

The longer-term pattern through mid-April favors below-average temperatures for most of the US Southwest. Darker colors indicate a higher level of confidence in cool weather.

For more details on the Southwest forecast, check out WeatherNation for the Western Regional Forecast, always at :50 past the hour!