Speaking of Fall, it begins next Monday at 11:44am.  It should have a lot of color with all of the rainfall we've had.  The peak is anticipated to be sometime in the middle of October.

What's the deal with the tropics, going from 3 active systems to now nothing.  It appears we have hit a quiet stretch, but I don't think we are done just yet.  The season isn't officially over until November 30th, which gives us 80 more days for storms to develop.  So far there have been 10 named systems, 4 of which have become hurricanes and 3 of those that have been classified as major Category 3 or higher.  With the amount of time we have left in the season, I think we will get closer to the predictions from the National Hurricane Center.  I can only hope we don't have another Ike...  The damage pictures and the stories that are going on right now in Houston are very sad, and it makes me wonder if Galveston would be rebuilt or not.  At least some of the island will more than likely never be redeveloped.

As for winter this year, things may start to look up a bit if you would like to see more snow than the past couple.  The past 5 years have been below normal, with a MEASLY 4.9" last winter, and only 9.5" the winter before that.  We had been in a La Nina pattern the past couple of years, which usually keeps our region drier and warmer than normal.  We are finally going towards neutral conditions, which I think will up our chances for more snowfall this year.  Our average over the past 100 years at Reagan National has been 15.2 inches per year.  I can hope that we will get to that mark this winter, heck, why not a blizzard as well!