Main Threats
Tonight: scattered light frost
Summary
We’ll see more high, thin clouds streaming in today, compliments of the subtropical jetstream that is overhead Tennessee these days. Believe it or not, Hurricane Willa in the Pacific is actually responsible for many of these clouds. I think the cloudiness will allow the sun to shine through from time to time, but I also think they will hold temps down to around the 60-degree mark. If we can get more sun than clouds, we’ll get closer to 65. That goes for tomorrow as well.
By Wednesday night, clouds will thicken and rain showers will threaten. I don’t expect anything too heavy, but Thursday could be a rather wet day, followed by a wet day Friday, too. The models this morning are suggesting a drier period Friday afternoon into the evening, before another system moves in Saturday. The unsettled weather looks to continue right on into Monday.
If we can get enough of a north wind in here Friday, we may see our first day with highs not reaching the 50-degree mark. The remnant low associated with Hurricane Willa will be moving across the Deep South, and that will put us on the colder side of the system. That always gives us a colder, raw day. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us only get to 48 or 49 degrees for a high Friday. This is the kind of pattern that gives us light snow in the winter. If only it were a couple months later……
Tropics
The most exciting thing going on in the tropics these days is Hurricane Willa, located off the western coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean. That storm has been incredible, rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in only 48 hours this past weekend! The storm is now weakening, but is still expected to make landfall as a major hurricane sometime this afternoon or evening.
Remnants of that storm will track northeast and eventually across the Southeast US. Please keep folks in Mexico in your thoughts and prayers. This storm is headed into areas that are already saturated and very mountainous. Landslides will likely take a toll on vulnerable communities.
Records
Well, we got down to 38 degrees here in town this morning. I had some scattered frost at home (Rinnie) and a low of 36. But, that wasn’t the case on this day in 1963! We were in the middle of an October heat wave that sent high temps into the upper 70s around here. Crossville hit a record high of 79 on the 23rd. That marked the fourth straight day in a row of record high temperatures.
Normally, we worry about dry weather in October. While we haven’t been exceptionally wet, we have had about 1.5″ of rain here in town so far this month. We average 3.24″ of rain for October and by the time we get to the 31st, I’d say we’ll be awful close to that. Imagine if we went 92 days in a row without a drop of rain. That’s just what folks in Winnemucca, Nevada did on this day in 1987. The 23rd of October marked the 92nd day with no rain! Even more impressive is that Yakima, Washington marked their 96th day without rain on this day of that same year. Need less to say, 1987 was a dry year out west!
At least both of those locations are pretty dry the whole year, averaging less than 10 inches of rain a year. Still, to go that long without rain is quite impressive, even for them!
News
NOAA announced yesterday that the GOES-17 satellite will begin drifting into it’s new, operational position tomorrow! This is the satellite I watched get launched on March 1. Once it finds its new and permanent position, we will start getting images from the western US like we’ve never seen before. We already have GOES-16 covering the US with the best detail we’ve ever seen. Now, GOES-17 will provide the same imagery for the western US. The satellite is expected to be fully operational by December 10th. I can’t wait!
You all have a great day and enjoy this dry weather before rain moves back in!