Winds of Change?

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I’m not sure what it is about this Sunday, but I can feel a definite change. Yes, the winds are a blowing as rain heads in our general direction for Monday, but it’s more than that. Somehow the sunlight feels less intense than what I had been used to. The length of the day is now about 11 ½ hours and this will continue to shorten considerably over the next thirty days. Also, as the arch of the sun gets lower and lower in the sky, less thermal heat energy reaches the surface; a key reason why the nights gets colder this time of year.

As I look out over my yard, I can see it is full of leaves, courtesy of a lone maple tree. Maple trees lose their leaves early and so my yard already has the look of fall to it while the other yards are mostly leaf free. It’s too bad my religion prohibits me celebrating Halloween as the yard would be well suited for a pumpkin or two, right about now!

The high pressure ridge which has acted as a blocker for the rains out west have had a good effect on states like Texas, bringing some of the central parts of the state well over four inches of rain; perhaps a little payback for the folks living there!

Now, as the area of high pressure moves off to the east, that same area of rain will invade the middle states. Right behind this is a shot of colder air which will also act to bring the unseasonable warm temps we’ve been getting back down to more normal (read as colder) levels.