Brief bouts of fall-like air to break up heat, storms in Northeast into July

A pattern featuring big swings in temperature and humidity with thunderstorms in between will continue in the northeastern United States through much of the first week of July, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

As a heat dome governs conditions over much of the southern half of the U.S. well into July, the weather will fluctuate from the Upper Midwest to much of the Northeast. Along the northern edge of the heat dome, fronts will swing through with warmups and cooldowns.

"The Northeast will be stuck in a cycle where it is delightfully cool for two days or so, then hot and humid for two days and repeat," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said, "In between, during the transitions, there will be showers and thunderstorms with severe weather in some locations."

A batch of cooler, less humid air cycled through the Northeast into Friday night. To some people, it even felt fall-like. However, a quick turnaround soon followed.

As the air became more humid on Saturday, spotty showers and thunderstorms erupted.

With a cool front approaching into Sunday, thunderstorms became more numerous. Ahead of the front, high temperatures rose well into the 80s and even touched 90 F in parts of the mid-Atlantic. The surging warmth and humidity helped boost thunderstorms to the point where some became severe.

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Through Monday, temperatures and humidity levels will continue to drop from northwest to southeast across the region in the wake of the front.

By Monday morning, temperatures will dip into the 40s and 50s over the interior Northeast and the low to middle 60s in the mid-Atlantic, which will be 10-20 degrees lower than Saturday night.

After a couple more refreshing days with low humidity and almost fall-like high temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, heat and humidity will build again from Wednesday to Independence Day.

"At this time, it appears weather conditions will be fairly typical for July 4th in the Northeast with some sunshine and hot and rather humid conditions," Dombek said, "The extent of afternoon and evening thunderstorm activity has yet to be determined this far out."

Widespread highs in the mid-80s to the low to mid-90s seem likely for Independence Day in the Northeast with cooler conditions possible right on the beaches.

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