SEPTEMBER OPENS HOT AND DRY - RAIN IS COMING

SEPTEMBER OPENS HOT AND DRY.  RAIN CHANCES INCREASE AS THE COOLEST AIR IN THREE MONTHS HEADS OUR WAY.

Showers arrived in parts of western Indiana Wednesday afternoon while temperatures once again climbed above the 90 degree mark in Indianapolis.  With August in the books as the driest and 5th warmest on record, September first marks the open to meteorological Fall.  Summer 2010 will also go into the record books as the 4th warmest on record.

A cold front will not reach the state until early Friday morning but shower chances will continue overnight and again Thursday night into Friday morning.  Rainfall will likely be higher over west and northwest Indiana.  Computer generated rainfall amounts range from a meager .08" to .47" for Indianapolis.  Certainly not enough as we continue to run - 3.5" below normal since August 1st.

COOLEST IN 3 MONTHS

Much cooler air will rush into central Indiana Friday behind a cold front.  The dip in the jet stream will allow the coolest air of the season to arrive Saturday morning.  Temperatures are expected to dip into the middle 40's away from the city with a predicted low of 52 in the city.  That would be the coolest here since May 20th when the low dipped to 51 degrees.

FORECAST JET STREAM FRIDAY EVENING

HURRICANE EARL AND NOW GASTON

The 7th named storm of the season developed Wednesday afternoon off the coast of Africa.  GASTON is the 4th tropical storm in the past eleven days.  The major hurricane EARL is back to a CAT 4 storm with 132 mph winds as of the 5pm update.  The majority of computer forecasts show EARL's track off the coast of the U.S.  The outlier is the NAVY No Gaps model that indicates landfall over the North Carolina outer banks.  Forecast's will be monitored as evacuations have begun.