A fine stretch of weather continues today with abundant sunshine and milder temperatures. There are no frost or freeze warnings posted and if you made it through the past couple of morning unscathed, you should be good for at least a week. Portland typically has its frost about the second week of October, but last year it wasn’t until November when it occurred.

The only weather “issue” will be some waves from Joaquin as it passes to the east of Maine today. The seas will relax tomorrow.

The foliage has been slow to change this year a combination of dry conditions and warmer than average weather in September. All of the reports from the different networks are reporting the color is 7 to 10 days late and not as brilliant as last year. Colder weather this weekend along with some rain has brought on more color and the change will accelerate this week and into the weekend.

Foliage Weekend
The maps below give you an idea of where the peak foliage is occurring. (Credit:Foliage Network) Notice how little of the area is under peak conditions, but by the weekend more and more color will be evident.

Sunny Columbus Day Weekend
It’s a holiday weekend for many of us with Monday being Columbus Day. This is traditionally a very big weekend for getting out and doing fall activities and the weather is going to cooperate.

There will be a cold front passing the region Friday through early Saturday. This front will usher in cooler air (compared to the middle of this week) and also bring a few showers. I believe the timing of the front is such; any shower will be over by Saturday morning and leave us with a nice weekend.

It won’t be warm this weekend, rather typically cool for mid-October. Highs will be in the 50s across the higher elevations to lower 60s along the coast. You can expect an abundance of sunshine. It gets dark by 6:30 this time of year, so if you hiking this weekend keep the time in mind and leave yourself enough light to get back safely.

Carolina Floods

The rain in South Carolina is as stunning to me as the winter snow we saw here this past season. Many of the records around the Charleston area read so similarly to the way our snowfall records fell in January and February.

What’s so noteworthy is how many of these records fell in this event. Flooding is going to be an issue for up to a week or more as it takes several days for all the water to make it to some of the larger rivers and then for those rivers to react.

While hurricane Joaquin didn’t play a direct role in all this rain, it did aid in the funneling of the atmospheric river. The rain isn’t over in that part of the Atlantic Seaboard yet. While the rain has ended, the flooding will continue for days. If your travel plans call for heading to that region, make sure you call ahead.

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