DAYS 1-5 (SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 2)
The next 3 days, the final 3 days of September, we will have our weather controlled by high pressure and low pressure. Elaboration follows. Our sensible weather, or “sense-able” conditions, what we can feel, will be controlled by high pressure to our north, which provides dry weather, comfortable air, and a light onshore (easterly air flow). Our visible weather, or the sky condition, will be controlled by the low pressure area that was once Hurricane Helene – a storm that brought devastating flooding to parts of the southeastern US, but now spins over the lower Ohio Valley as a remnant low, partially trapped in the ongoing blocking pattern. While the surface feature is spinning around out there, mid and upper level winds have peeled a lot of the remaining moisture off the system and blown it eastward while its expansion and momentum carried it northward as well. For our region, what this resulted in was a high cloud shield that overspread the sky Friday afternoon and a continuation of high (and some middle) clouds across the sky often in abundance the next few days. But much of the time during the day these clouds will be thin enough to allow some sunshine, or even provide a nice sunrise such as much of the region saw just a short while before I started writing this update. Here lies another example of the range of conditions one weather system can bring – from devastating flooding to picturesque sunrise. This is nature – brutality and beauty, often occurring simultaneously. My thoughts are with the storm’s victims. For our area, once we get through these 3 fairly similar weather days, and welcome October, we will see a turn to more unsettled weather for the final 2 days of this forecast period which are also the first 2 days of the new month. Tuesday, clouds thicken ahead of a trough from the west and moisture from the south – some of this being the “remainder of the remains” of Helene. This brings us a chance of some wet weather Tuesday night and Wednesday as low pressure tracks to our south and a cold front cruises by from the west. At days 4 & 5 in the forecast I still have to sort out some details with this, but my initial feeling is that the bulk of the moisture from the redevelopment of Helene’s remnant low will track just to our south while the cold front brings a brief period of wet weather, focused on Wednesday.
TODAY: Filtered / dimmed sun through high clouds. Highs 62-69. Wind NE 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: High clouds cover the sky. Ground fog patches forming in lower elevations. Lows 45-52. Wind NE diminishing to under 10 MPH.
SUNDAY: Filtered / dimmed sun through high clouds. Highs 62-69. Wind NE 5-15 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT: High clouds hang on. Patchy radiation fog. Lows 47-54. Wind variable under 10 MPH.
MONDAY: Sun and high clouds. Highs 66-73. Wind variable to E up to 10 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Lows 47-54. Wind variable under 10 MPH.
TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy. Highs 63-70. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Chance of rain, favoring the South Coast. Lows 55-62. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.
WEDNESDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs 63-70. Wind variable to S 5-15 MPH, shifting to W.
DAYS 6-10 (OCTOBER 3-7)
Weakening blocking / quasi-zonal flow. High pressure brings fair, cooler weather October 3 and a milder October 4. Quick-moving front brings brief shower chance October 5. Another high pressure brings dry weather back after that but if systems move quickly enough the next shower threat may already arrive before the end of the period around October 7.
DAYS 11-15 (OCTOBER 8-12)
A zonal flow pattern should be more established at this point with fair weather sandwiching a mid-period unsettled interlude with a passing trough. We’ll be watching for the first frost for some areas in this time frame.