A look at this Fall and Winter

It's been a very warm summer. June, July, and so far August have averaged about 3 degrees above normal. That's a pretty hot summer! If you are a fan of a nice, easy Fall, you'll like what's coming up. As I mentioned back at the beginning of summer, I think we are going to see a very pleasant Fall season. Temperatures will be above normal through October. In September our daytime highs start out in the upper 70s and drop to the upper 60s by the end of the month.  In October, by the time we get to Halloween, we cool down to daytime highs in the mid 50s. Generally speaking, it should be a pleasant season for outdoor college and high school sports. I think you players and fans will enjoy it.

It looks like sometime around perhaps mid-November we will see a turn to colder temperatures. After that we will get into Winter, but the overview of Winter is not bad.  You may recall that last November was very warm.  Then came December, January, and February where temperatures averaged below normal.  February was particularly brutal averaging 2.8 degrees below the norm. That will not likely be the case this year.  We will have Winter, but not the prolonged weeks upon weeks of cold.

Joe Bastardi is a Senior Forecaster for AccuWeather. Joe has a good handle on the future and you can usually count on what he says is going to happen will happen. Looking over his Winter outlook and translating it into what it means for this region, the lower Great Lakes, I see the following:

 - Temperatures will cool down by late November and remain cold through most of, if not all of,  December.

 - We will see very few major snow storms around the lower Great Lakes the first part of Winter. Locally, we'll have to watch the snow belt area for lake effect because the lake will be very warm following this intense summer heat. When the wind shifts northerly we could have fun.

 - We should see a traditional "January Thaw" then it will be back to Winter.

 - The real heart of Winter weather as we like to imagine it will follow the "January Thaw" and continue through February with cold temperatures and snow storms.

 - While the Winter overall will not be as cold as last year, it will likely be punctuated by radical temperature swings...several days of mild temperatures followed by several days of cold temperatures.

So, there ya go! Not a bad Winter on the way.  It's probably going to be rather typical in most of our minds, it's just going to take a while to get started.

   Meanwhile, enjoy the Fall!