The weather outside is frightful, and it's still November!

More than a half-foot of snow fell across Pueblo, Colorado on November 23, 2013 in a winter storm that's part of a system that headed to North Texas and which will impact the East Coast on Thanksgiving!

With Thanksgiving 2013 just around the corner, I thought it might be fun to think a little about December and some weather trends of note.

One of the great things about being an ordinary and non-professional person is the inability of most everyone to hold me to account when I make my weather predictions! While I'm certainly no expert, I am colorful! Way back in August, I made some predictions about what I felt was to come for the winter season of 2013-14. And, I think I mentioned that we might get some 'weird weather' in the form of ice, snow and even record cold. (For their part, the weather service is calling for a rather dry, non snowy and warmer than normal December and January). How boring!

Well, here it is, late November and already some exposed surfaces have been 'exposed' to ice! Close locations, like Arkansas just to our south, have also experienced the bite of winter with much colder than normal temperatures and even a little ice storm thrown in for good measure! Texas, unfortunately, got clobbered with a storm that has left 8 dead as of this post. So, yes, things are getting a little weird out there and that weirdness is starting a bit early! Early and persistent cold conditions across much of the Midwest have helped to set the stage for some potentially exciting times later in the season! Stay tuned, as things may only go downhill from here...

Coldest air of the season due to impact Forsyth MO area!

It's getting harder and harder to tell that it's still only mid fall when the weather service is forecasting single digit temps for some people living in southwest Missouri overnight on November the 23rd and 24th! The culprit is a re-enforcing blast of arctic air that is streaming in from Canada and which was posed just to the north of Forsyth Missouri in the early morning hours of what could have been an otherwise great Saturday! (A fact that is evident in the radar map pictured below! 

Once that frigid air gets to our area, moderate winds will help to make just about anyone who ventures outside miserable. Those living in low lying areas will also be the unhappy recipients of the coldest air as it will tend to pool in those locations.

Best advice! Hunker down, turn up the thermostat and throw a few extra blankets on the bed before retiring later this evening. 

October 2013 weather recap!

Forsyth MO data

It was hard for me to believe, but last minute rainfalls towards the end of the month made up for what I was sure would be a deficit. Here in Forsyth, I had 3.68 inches in the rain bucket versus a historical average of 3.39 inches. What's more, this rainy pattern looks like it just might persist on into the month of November!

Temperature wise, we ended up about normal at -1 degree below the average for the month. (Those warm 80 degree days we had at the start were overcome be a decidedly cool trend starting on about the 16^th). The average high was 67°F while the average low was 46°F. This was 4 degrees below and 3 degrees above the normal readings respectively. (I'm sure the global warming theorists will have a field day with that stat, although all the readings were well within the 'normal' range').

From an electrical power use standpoint, I used only 463 kWh (~ $65) of electricity for the billing month versus a last year's use of 403 kWh. This was very acceptable, especially considering the 7% rate hike we all just endured for Empire Electric users. I'm also looking forward to enjoying significant energy savings during the more challenging winter months yet to come. Please see my Energy Blog for more on some of the energy saving moves I plan to be making this coming winter.