A cold front from Nova Scotia through the mid-Atlantic Coast into the lower Mississippi Valley brought showers and scattered thunderstorms Friday to eastern New England and the mid-Atlantic states. Showers and thunderstorms were spotty elsewhere in the nation. In Des Moines, Iowa, where rainfall was 7{ inches below normal for the year, showers on Friday only brought .01 inches to the area. Showers and thunderstorms developed in parched areas of the Southeast, from western North Carolina into south central Alabama, north central and northeast Texas and the central and southern Gulf Coast. Showers and thunderstorms were scattered in parts of eastern and southern Nevada, southwest Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico and central Colorado. Temperatures Friday afternoon were in the 80s or 90s across much of the nation. The coolest temperatures were in the 50s and 60s in the Pacific Northwest, the 60s from upper Michigan into northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania, and across much of New England. Temperatures were in the 70s from the upper Mississippi Valley and lower Great Lakes into the central Appalachians. Temperatures were already above 100 degrees across the desert Southwest. The lowest temperature for the nation Friday was 32 at Marquette, Mich. The national weather forecast for Saturday includes scattered showers and thunderstorms in the front range of the Colorado Rockies, the lower Mississippi Valley and parts of the Middle Atlantic and southern Appalachian regions. The rest of the nation will have mostly sunny skies. High temperatures will be in the 80s or 90s across much of the nation; in the 70s from the eastern Great Lakes through New England and along the California coast into the Pacific Northwest, with a few highs in the mid 60s; and, from 100 to 115 across the desert Southwest.
