Substantially cooler air will push into the West on Monday, then will lingerover the Southwest Tuesday through Thursday. For the Southwest deserts, theupcoming days will be the coolest in several months.As a storm system moves inland on Monday, significant cooling will take placefrom eastern Washington and Idaho to California. Showers, thunderstorms andgusty winds will occur ahead of this cool push.
The cool air will then settle over the Southwest on Tuesday, then will remainstubbornly overhead into Thursday. Similar to the storm bringing an extendedperiod of dreary weather to the East, this cool pocket will become stuck overthe Southwest by detaching itself from the fast-flowing jet stream.
With the cool pocket overhead, temperatures throughout the Southwest fromTuesday to Thursday will be held 5 to 15 degrees below highs that are typicalfor early October.
Residents of Reno will have to endure highs in the 60s each day, whiletemperatures are held to the 70s in Sacramento and Las Vegas. Not sincemid-June have temperatures failed to warm out of the 70s in Las Vegas.
Highs in the 80s will be common throughout the deserts of southeasternCalifornia and Arizona. Palm Springs, Calif., will struggle to reach the80-degree mark on Tuesday. Temperatures have not been held below 85 degrees inthe city since late May.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski
