Arkansans will soon get a blast of summer heat, after recent record-breaking low temperatures -- but it won't last for long. Another cool front is forecast this week to again send temperatures below normal.
Brian Smith, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said the coming days will see temperatures rising into the 90s in Little Rock. The cold front will pass through late in the week, he said.
Strong northerly winds from Canada have brought cold air down across the mid-South, causing temperatures to drop unseasonably low throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts of Tennessee and Mississippi. John Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Memphis -- the office that monitors some parts of eastern Arkansas -- said much of the country is seeing uncommon weather stemming from the system.
"It's a deep, low-pressure trough that's covering the East Coast -- almost all of the eastern United States, bringing in cold air from Canada," he said. "It's a very deep trough, and it's unusual for this time of year."
Smith said this summer's weather has been breaking records across the state.
"Highs have been mainly in the 60s and 70s, and lows have been in the 60s and 50s," he said. "Normal lows are in the 70s, so this is a pretty significant thing."
This summer, the state has hit the 100-degree mark only twice: at the Camden airport July 13 and in Texarkana on July 14. The hottest it's gotten in Little Rock was 96 degrees on July 14. Since 2000, the city has seen an average of nearly 10 days per year with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher.
Little Rock was cooled by record lows of 62 on Thursday and Friday, temperatures not felt on those days since 1945 and 1976, respectively. Smith said a particularly notable cold spot was Monticello, where the temperature recently hit 68 degrees on a day where the norm is 92.
According to a National Weather Service report, Friday's high of 71 in Little Rock was the city's coldest July high temperature since 1880. Officials began keeping temperature records in the capital city in 1879.
The low temperatures don't seem to be putting a dent in summer recreation. Kelly Perkins of Cedar Glade Resort in Horseshoe Bend said visitors have been enjoying the cooler-than-average weather.
"It is strange weather for July, it's normally in the 90s or 100s, and we're at 78," Perkins said Saturday. "But it is nice weather, so we're seeing a lot of people golfing."
Moore said he doubts that the dip will have any adverse effects, and that most people are probably happy about a cool summer in the South.
"I'm pretty sure nobody's complaining about temperatures in the upper 70s in the middle of summer."
Metro on 07/20/2014