I came inside after raking and mulching leaves to work on this blog entry. I’d say in my area about three quarters of the leaves have fallen and this makes cleaning up worth the time. I know between now and Thanksgiving there is a lot of work left in the yard, but I need to pace myself.

This weekend, the weather will cooperate for all late October activities. Of course, it’s Halloween so there are parties both night this weekend and lots of kids on the streets Saturday night.

Since it will be dry most of the weekend, it’s temperatures which you’ll want to know about. After a mild afternoon, I am expecting a chilly night. For the early soccer or football games Saturday dress warmly. The low angle of the sun and temperatures in the 30s will certainly wake you up.

Saturday
I expect readings in the lower 50s between noon and 4 p.m before tailing off again at sunset. Temperatures will fall slowly through the 40s during the evening meaning a jacket over the costumes might not be a bad idea, but warmer clothes under them will suffice. Winds will be light as well. The sunset occurs around 5:40 in the evening so you’ll need glow sticks and lights shortly thereafter.

Moonlight
The moon is 80% full on Halloween, but doesn’t come up until after 9:30, so it won’t do much good for the little kids.

Of course Halloween this year is also the final evening of daylight saving time. The sun will go down an hour earlier Sunday, but the bond is that Sunday morning the sun rises just after 6:15, meaning it’s light before 6 a.m . once again. It will take until the second week of December before the sunrise is post 7 a.m. again, but it then remains there for the rest of December and all of January. In other words the mornings are dark for quite a while.

We are still losing light at over minutes a day, but the pace of loss is slowing. By Thanksgiving the speed of the loss has slowed by a full minute and during December, we don’t lose much more daylight.

Sunday
As warmer air starts to return to New England there will be a period of clouds and a few showers possible. The bulk of the showers will remain north and west of Portland with just clouds to the south. Highs in the afternoon will be in the middle 50s. Remember, it will get dark before 5 p.m Sunday evening.

Warmer air next week allows temperatures to return to the upper 50s to 60s once again. This is above average for early November, but no near record territory. Of course snow is not unusual in November, especially over the higher terrain. The present pattern isn’t conducive to any snowfall anywhere and unfortunately ski areas will have a hard time making snow in the mild air.

The map below is from NOAA and is an compilation of a bunch of forecasts. This shows the probability of warmer than average weather the second week of November. New England is once again forecast to see a lack of cold.

A warm November doesn’t correlate well with predicting the upcoming winter. So while the winter won’t be as severe as last season, cold and snow will eventually arrive so enjoy the mild air while we have it and get those leaves up while you can.

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