Rapid cooling in the wake of Tropical Storm Lee has dropped temperatures by as much as 30F over Texas this morning. Unfortunately the very dry and breezy conditions that ensued created a severe wildfire risk yesterday which will continue through today. The remains of TS Lee continue to move toward the NE dropping unwelcome rain over much of New England and New York State. Hurricane Katia is a category 4 storm now with top winds of 135 mi/h. Other than large coastal waves and swells, its impact to the US should be limited although a few of the models bring it rather close to Long Island and Cape Cod in the next few days so it still bears watching. Storminess is increasing over the Bay of Campeche this morning and most models forecast a system of Tropical Storm variety to develop there in the next day or two. This my pose a risk to the eastern Gulf of Mexico later this week, athough with all the dry air in Texas, its strengthening prospects do not look so good.

Otherwise anomalously warm conditions over the west and Rocky Mountains states this week, cool in the middle-section and muggy and mild along the east coast. Next week shows continued above average temperatures in the west, some heat returning to Texas, and cooler than average in the Ohio Valley, most of the Mississippi valley, and the East coast.