A Brisk Change to Autumn

Over the past couple of days, we seemed to have leapfrogged from the month of August right into October.  Temperatures topped out near 80 in many spots on Wednesday, while afternoon temperatures were only hovering in the 50s on Thursday after a potent cold front pushed on through.  I know I was a bit surprised when I left work Thursday afternoon and it felt so crisp despite the sun being out.  While we've had some damp, chilly days recently, that was probably the first cool, dry afternoon we've had since the spring.  After the cool day, we dropped to near 40 Thursday night and many outlying areas were in the 30s - it's a night we would typically see later in October, not in September.  DuBois hit 36 degrees Friday morning, and some of the outlying areas dropped to near the freezing mark, especially near and north of Interstate 80.

We didn't get the brunt of the cold air, though, which was centered over Minnesota.  The "Icebox of the Nation," located in International Falls, Minnesota, dipped down to 19 degrees Thursday morning.  That set a record as the coldest temperature ever recorded in the month of September.  It was the first time since 1924 that Chicago recorded back-to-back high temperatures below 60 degrees.  And the front brought some much needed relief from the heat in Dallas, where the mercury hit 107 degrees on Tuesday, but didn't even hit 80 on Thursday.

The unseasonably cold air was thanks to a very strong area of high pressure (especially for this time of year) that came down from Canada.  Those of you that have home barometers may have noticed some high readings the past couple of days, up between 30.30" to 30.40" of mercury.  These strong highs give us our coldest nights in the winter, and this time brought us an early start to autumn.

Those of you that aren't ready for the cooler weather - don't worry.  70s will return to the forecast as the sun is still relatively strong this time of year and it's impossible to keep it this cool for the rest of the month.

--Meteorologist Brian Thompson