OKAY... SO WHERE'S FALL?

We've seen it in bursts. We've seen it in the leaves. We're losing sunlight. But the cool air hasn't really stuck. Sunday was a prime example. The sun came out and the humidity remained low but temperatures ended up 10 to 15 degrees above normal.

After cold fronts move through, upper level ridges have been fighting back in and bringing warm air back in to the Midwest. And the next six days will largely be dominated by a ridge.

And it's getting a little unusual as we're around the time of year (on average) that we have the first fall freeze.

Judging by the pattern up ahead it doesn't look like a freeze in the works for much of the Midwest over the next week. With all that cold locked up north it also holds off on any potential for snow. The earliest measurable snowfall in Cedar Rapids was on September 26 back in 1942. While we're past that now.. we're not past the average date for measurable snow which is around November 18th.

Much of the Midwest has the first measurable snow between November 1 to December 1. So we're not far behind on that but so far the cold air has been hard to come by. By and large temperatures are going to be near and above normal over the next few weeks.

The Climate Prediction Center keeps above normal temperatures in through October 22. We'll have to see if the pattern breaks by the end of the month and maybe we'll get fall to stick...

RK