Well autumn is officially here. Time to take out the A/C, shut the windows and unplug the dehumidifiers (perhaps). I don’t have a whiff of humidity in the forecast – other than the kind that comes with a east/northeast wind – nor do I have any heat. That has been put to rest for a good long while. (Although I will say that it may not be done for good.)
For now, our airmasses will come from the north…in the form of high pressure. It will ward off the warmth, the showers and most of the clouds (with the exception of tomorrow). It will also contribute to a general northeast wind in the coming days. The breeziest of the next few appear to be tomorrow and Thursday. It’s then that the coastline will hover in the mid and upper 60s. Not exactly parka weather, but a sign of the times for sure.
Now about the rain issue. It’s been looming large for the last few months, but we’re reaching critical mass in the coming weeks here in New England. Rain is badly needed for the foliage and for the groundwater heading into winter. For foliage, lack of rain means the leaves will drop before they change, dried by drought and starved for nutrients. Compounding the issue is the lack of cool mornings – which we should make up for in the coming week. Still, this won’t be a panacea for the fall colors. Water is crucial in the next 7-10 days. As far as groundwater is concerned, now that we’re entering into our 3rd month of below normal precipitation, the once abundant above and below ground water sources are strained. As we enter the winter months, these sources will not be recharged, and we’ll need to rely on a plentiful snowpack in the winter. Or, worse yet, we’ll have a warm winter without any snow, stunting the normal percolation of snowmelt into the ground in the spring.
Any way you slice it, we need rain badly. We’ve had our fun in the summer sun, now it’s time payback time. Unfortunately, the entire Northeast remains bone dry in the coming week to two weeks thanks to the upper level pattern. It simply won’t allow any storms to form, nor charge any passing fronts with rain or storms. (See yesterday morning’s feeble sprinkles with the frontal passage.)
Get your headdresses on for the rain dance, folks. We’ll need it to change this stubborn pattern.
Pete