It appears that the world's deadliest airline disaster since 2001 occurred yesterday, as 228 people were missing and presumed dead after an Air France jet disappeared over the open Atlantic Ocean, about midway between western Africa and Brazil. The plane reported that its electrical system had failed as it entered some particularly severe thunderstorms, and then it wasn't heard from again. Another plane reported seeing orange spots on the ocean around where the Air France jet disappeared, although the first rescue ship won't arrive in the region until today.
There was speculation that lightning had brought the airliner down, but lightning strikes passenger jets all the time; they're built to distribute a lightning bolt's charge across the frame. The storms the plane encountered were remarkably high though, 55,000 feet, and apparently the jet wasn't able to manuever around them. Strong turbulence in thunderstorms can bring down a plane of any size, but most planes manage to fly around such systems.
A weakening cold front that's presently extended nearly west to east across the Midwest will arrive in our region today. It should pass through dry, although we can expect a mostly cloudy day today as the front opts to lag just to our south. With the winds in the mid- to upper levels nearly parallel to the front, it's going to be difficult for the front to move on.
Clouds notwithstanding, we should see a warm high temperature around 83 today, so enjoy. Disturbances will eventually develop along the stalled front and bring us rain for the second half of Wednesday into Thursday, possibly the majority of Thursday. We could see more than an inch of rain from this scenario before our weather changes for Friday.
Yesterday's extreme temperatures in the contiguous United States --- High: 103 at Needles, Calif.; Low: 29 at Bradford, Pa.