Wild Storm Packs Damaging Winds and Heavy Rain

What a crazy storm that was this past weekend! This one packed some punch with gale-force winds and occasional monsoon-like downpours. I was watching some college football with my son and we heard a crash. Upon looking outside I realized that a 40 foot section of the fence between my yard and my neighbor had blown over. The strong wind snapped several of the 4x4 posts clean in half!  

On Sunday I was working in my office upstairs and heard what sounded like a jetliner landing on my roof. I listened for a while then looked out the window to see rain coming down at a rate easily 4 inches an hour. I fumbled around with my camera phone and manged to get a recording of the tail end of this impressive cloudburst that included some pea sized hail.

My Facebook post read something like, "Apparently, summer is over." Yes, apparently it is. Soak it up my friends, Autumn is here and she is blowing a gale. Soak it up.

Big Scary Storm Headed our Way!

We have our first big storm of the season rolling in as we speak. This one is packing high winds that will really be felt along the coast. It is also tapping into some tropical moisture and that means we will get a good hard soaking.

The National Weather Service has a weather statement out on this. Be prepared for local street flooding as the drains are all clogged up fresh fallen leaves. My new rain gauge is acting up :( I have to go manual for a while :|

Batten down the hatches this could be a wet and wild ride!

So long September, Now the real Autumn begins

October is here and the real autumn will step up and be noticed. September turned out to be a pretty warm month. I had average temps well above my 13 year normal. Overnight lows averaged nearly 54 degrees 2.5 above normal. Highs hovered just north of 77 degrees averaged over the month, that's 3 degrees above the established norm. The hottest day was the 6th when I measured 96.4 degrees and that was the third hottest day of the year. Speaking of hot, this past September recorded an impressive four days above 90 degrees. All told this year has delivered 11 days above the 90 mark. The coldest temp last month was a mild, 45.3 on the 4th. The coolest afternoon high came on the 29th when the merc topped out at 61.7. The warmest overnight low arrived on the 22nd with 61.1.

The month seemed to be rainy but really was about half of normal with my bucket collecting a mere 1.29 inches against my baker's dozen of years averaging 2.47. I had 9 days with something dripping in the rain gauge but only 6 days mustered more than trace. The wettest day was the 23rd with 0.61 inches.

October is a month that sees the Autumn plunge in full swing. Temperatures will plummet from an average high of 70 on the 1st to and average high of 52 on Halloween. The leaves are starting to flash a little color and the sun sinks fast in the west. Get ready to enjoy the brightest display of flora in the next few weeks.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.