If you go to the Maine Turnpike’s website you can read about the expected 243,737 to head into the state beginning Friday and continuing Saturday. Columbus Day weekend is the fastest growing holiday here in Maine with July 4th and Labor Day more popular. This evening we find ourselves poised to enjoy another great day of October weather. The good news is the weekend weather will also cooperate, but it’s going to be cool. Columbus Day weekend is a big holiday in many circles. However, not all of you are off Monday.

When I use to work at Thomson-Reuters’ First Call division in Boston I would always take off Columbus Day Monday in spite of most of the financial markets being open. It is a recommended holiday for the bond market. If you are not off take look at the bright side. Since schools are closed traffic is always on the light end of the scale and if there isn’t an accident on the roads you use into work it’s usually an easy commute.

I feel like Columbus Day weekend, unlike our next set of holidays Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years are less about eating and more about being outside and still trying to enjoy the nice weather. It’s usually not very chilly, the sun is still relatively strong, the sun is still setting post 6PM and the changing leaves bring colorful pallet to the landscape.

The weekend or Monday is just a great time to enjoy fall. It’s basically the halfway point between meteorological fall and after this the chance of colder days, frosts and even snow start to go up.

A storm is going to pass to the south of Maine Friday night and Saturday. There will likely be a period of rain over southern New England, but only clouds here in southern Maine. The further north you go, the fewer clouds you’ll find and the more blue sky. Along the immediate coast south of Portland there could be a few showers Saturday depending on the exact tract of this system. If the cloud and shower shield does move a bit further north, Saturday could be cloudier, but I am confident we are not looking at a rainy day.

No matter what happens, Saturday is a great day to go apple picking, grab that cider donut and pick a pumpkin for Halloween, three week away.

Sunday is the best of the three days. There will be abundant sunshine, pleasantly cool temperatures and light winds. Highs will be in the mid to upper 50s, below average, but tolerable.

Monday brings more clouds and a renewed, but small chance of showers. These showers are the forerunner of milder air. As a matter of fact much of next week is going to be quite warm with highs back into the 65+ degree range for several days.

Super Typhoon

To the other side of the world for a moment and a quick check at Typhoon Vongfong which is now heading for parts of Japan one the heels of Phanfone’s destruction. This storm is the strongest of the year on the planet and winds did reach 160 miles per hour making it equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. Typhoons and hurricanes are the same thing, just different names. Think soda or pop, bubbler or water fountain, hoagie, grinder, Italian or submarine sandwiches etc. The satellite image loop below shows a classic storm with a beautiful eye. This is classic text book stuff, unfortunately, this could bring more damage to parts of the world which have already seen plenty of tropical activity for a season.

Copy the Story Link