In Other News

It's common for me to take a bit of a break over summer since my main focus tends to be on winter.  Which is coming soon by the way.  The midwest has not received that news yet.  One of the recurring subjects discussed on The Weather Channel recently is the lack of cold for Minneapolis.  The average date for the first recording of a 32 degree temperature is October 8th.  Now into November they have yet to hit 32.  They are not forecast to hit the freezing mark over the next 10 days.  Not that we are breaking records in this area, but we have hit the 32 degree mark four times so far this year and have multiple days forecast to go below freezing this week.  Needless to say the majority of the country is still in the same pattern dominated by a large ridge and warmer temperatures.

I'd like to try and find a correspondence with the end of daylight saving time and the weather except I'm not sure I can.  Either way in recent years the first 10 days of November have taken on a quality more inline with early autumn.  Last year we hit 70 four times in that span, once the year before and twice this year.  It usually doesn't take long after that for a shift to take place.  It looks like that could start by this weekend when the temperature trends shift back to average or slightly below average.  Temperatures aren't really the story.  Since the beginning of August we are under seven inches of total rain.  I wouldn't normally root for a chilly November rain, but in this case it is needed.

Since I don't always get much of a chance to post I hope to at least include random things that are happening in the world.  I was aiming to start with a winter video somewhere where winter has already started.  Unfortunately the news today was a bit different.  This is what rolled through areas near Rome in Italy today.