Now that Hurricane Florence has come and gone and calmer conditions have returned to the area, I hope that most of you are back to your regularly scheduled work. A look ahead over the next few weeks shows that in general, warmer and wetter than normal conditions are likely to continue until mid-October. The nights will be above normal in temperature, but day temperatures are expected to cool off a bit from this week’s unseasonal warmth. A ridge of high pressure will keep showers to a minimum, although there’s always a chance over the mountains, and less than 2 inches of rain is expected for the next three weeks in all. Next week I expect some showery activity mid-week with a return to drier conditions by next weekend.
Climatologists are watching for the first signs of fall, and the long-range models do show a blast of colder air moving into the US around the end of the month. At this point it’s not clear if it will get to us in the Deep South or if it will stall out farther north. The tropics are starting to pick up in activity again, with the potential for two new named storms in the next few days, but neither of them poses much threat to us here in the Southeast, especially for the next week.
It would be very helpful to hear reports of any damage you may have sustained from Florence so I can add it to my monthly climate impact reports. You can email me at pknox@uga.edu or call me at 706-310-3467.
