The long period of mostly dry and hot weather which has been in place through most of June will come to an end by the middle of this week. A strong front from Siberia will usher in a completely different regime of weather, which will start as increasing southwesterly winds on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. This will increase ventilation rates and may result in some improvement in air quality over the Interior, but there will still be active wildfires in the Interior, so smoke will not completely go away. By Wednesday, the strong front is moving across the northern Mainland and will bring very blustery southwest winds across the Mainland, with the strongest winds over the northern Interior, where winds will be into the 20 mph range with gusts into the 30 mph range. Chances for rain begin Wednesday and Wednesday night, and increase for the 4th of July and continue into the latter period of the week. Temperatures will be near seasonal norms on Wednesday, and will drop below seasonal norms by late week. Periods of rainfall will likely continue through the weekend, with the potential for widespread rainfall amounts which will likely exceed what was seen in the entire month of June for many locations. Stay tuned to the latest forecast updates at www.weather.gov/afg
