One way or the other…

Leaves are beginning to litter the ground around my home in Atlanta now. But I’m not sure it’s because of the approach of autumn, only two days away as I write this. I think it’s because of the relentless, desiccating heat. Here we are, two days from the equinox and afternoon temperatures are still topping 90F in my shaded backyard. Where’n the hell is September? Why won’t July and August let go?

But wait. Hoorah! They will! Their reign will at last be shattered. A look at the weather forecast models this afternoon suggest–strongly so–that it will be noticeably cooler in the Southeast early next week.

Details, at the moment, are lacking. That is, it isn’t clear to me if it will be cooler because of widespread cloudiness and showers (there goes my Monday golf outing), or because of a good puff of fresh Canadian air in the wake of a cold front. But one way or the other, temperatures are going to drop.

Oh, and one more thing. The models are beginning to get happy feet over the development of a tropical cyclone (storm or hurricane) in the western Caribbean over the weekend or early next week.

Whether such an event, assuming it comes to fruition, would ever affect the U.S., well, spin the bottle. Right now the guidance is akin to starburst fireworks on the 4th of July. Possible targets on recent model runs have ranged from Mexico to the U. S. Gulf Coast to Florida to the Carolinas. One run even had the storm waving a sword at my favorite East Coast location, St. Simons Island.

But not to worry. Even given that remote possibility–think penguins in Panama–any such disturbance wouldn’t hold a candle to my fictional Hurricane Janet in EYEWALL.

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