GOODBYE SUMMER!

We have flipped the switch into fall now - the leaves are changing color, the days are getting shorter, it's cooler and hopefully will be drier. We had another round of rain Saturday and some of us dealt with thunderstorms and heavy rain, picking up an inch or more of rain. Here's a look at a few cities totals for October so far, from the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities -

Dubuque has doubled the average rainfall for October after having the second wettest September on record with over 13 inches. Sooo a lot of us don't need any more rain. The good news is there will be a stretch of dry days that will help with the overly saturated grounds.

High pressure will be in control and temperatures will be near/below normal in the 60s Sunday through Wednesday. Then the strong storm (the one we've been talking about for several days) arrives Thursday into Friday.

Showers and thunderstorms will be likely across most of my local area with snow in portions of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska. There will be several inches of snow in parts of the Upper Midwest but the question is exactly how much and where does the snow fall. What is certain is that it will get cooler and stay cool behind this storm. Here's a look at the low temperatures next Saturday morning (Oct. 12) -

This *could* be the first frost for many in my local area. The chill is the result of an upper level trough being carved out over the Midwest that will stay put through the middle of October.

In turn, here's a look at the temperature outlook from the Climate Prediction Center through October 15 -

There will be drier air in place and these heavy rain events should become less frequent around here. However we could see frost and freezing temperatures and snow in the Upper Midwest. So take your pick I suppose...

RK

P.S. Check out our new forum section! You can have discussions about the current weather pattern, share pictures, talk about past storms and Terry and I can answer any questions you may have. See the conversations here: https://www.tswails.com/forum