It's October

October is one of those classic transitional months similar to April in spring.  Nothing is surprising.

The current rainfall total in Reading is 5.16 inches and with a storm coming up the coast next week it would not be out of the question to see the end result be something closer to 7 inches for the month.

The highest temperature recorded this month was 79 which isn't much of a surprise.  I generally recall hitting 80 in previous years, but I could be wrong.  We did dip below 32 on the 13th.  Normally it takes a little longer to get below freezing temperatures.  However we have not gone under since and in fact, if the month ended today the high and low temperature averages would be the exact same as the normal monthly average.

Now for the uniqueness of the changing seasons.  If you were around the area on Friday you would have been well aware of the tornado warning for Berks County.  It was definitely odd.  It happened at night making it impossible to see anything coming and from a second story building you easily understand how people can get trapped with no place to go.  I had the radar continuously playing and saw no signs of a rotating storm.  In the end there weren't even reports of wind damage but a tornado was confirmed in Lancaster County who were not under a warning.  And for the 180 degree turn, the word snow appeared in the forecast this morning.

I missed the screen grab but that is the last on my list of checkoffs to tell me winter is approaching except for actually seeing flakes.  If we remember last October, snow is not out of the question so why not sharpen our skills for the rest of the season by tracking an early coastal storm.

The GFS currently has tropical storm Sandy push straight north up the coast but not make an impact on land.  A new low forms east of New England and then back tracks back on to land.  However, there is some disparity between the runs and the NAO forecast.  If we remember from previous winters, a negative NAO causes a blocking pattern over Greenland and cause the jet stream to dip and make a deep curl up the coast.  It brings storms up the coast while also drawing cold air down from the north.  The forecast NAO is at one of the lowest I can remember for the next six days.

The temperatures could struggle to get out of the 40's next week.  I would say snow is unlikely but an interesting storm could still take shape.  Now we wait and watch the tracking.