Are you ready for Fall?

Today's Cold Front has prompted this Flood Watch. These are the same areas that had over 2 inches of rain with Hanna. Many spots got well over 3 inches, and the soil is soggy. Not much room for any more rain to soak in, so any downpours could lead to flooding.
There does appear to be a wave of Low Pressure trying to form along the cold front. That may slow it down, and enhance the rain. The transition from this humid weather to some autumn chill should produce amounts close to 1 inch or more.



Early Autumn?
Labor Day and the State Fair have passed. The tropics are just way too active now. Oh, and there is that issue of the leaves turning early. That's right, for those of us that live north and west of Baltimore. Away from the urban heat island and warm Chesapeake Bay... the leaves began to turn at the end of August. In fact at my house, I had 2 trees already lose about 40% of their leaves. I can't blame the weather, because we had a good bit of rain most of the summer, and the heat was not that extreme. Some had speculated that it's a precursor to a hard winter, or even a result of the lowest sunspot activity in centuries (which will result in Global Cooling). Either way, it started to feel like fall, and that same old feeling will return this week.
Here is the 850mb map for Wednesday mid day. This translates to the following:
Wind direction: North East
AfternoonTemperatures: Low 70s
Overnight Temperatures: Near 50 (40s north and west)


The same High Pressure responsible for this chill has helped to push Hurricane Ike's track farther south. The long reach will likely keep that storm on a path for southern portion of the Gulf Coast. Se when you see rain in our forecast for the weekend, it's not Ike, but yet another storm in an active northern branch of early fall.