Change Is Coming to the Heartland/Southeast, But First Possibly More Flooding.

A one, two punch is on its WAAY to the Heartland of the nation. A system that has been cut-off from the main flow over the Plains and central Rockies will finally get bumped and move eastward into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley through this weekend. This will allow a cold front to progress eastward. The main weather feature associated with this front will be another round of rains, some heavy, from the Mid-South to the Mid-Atlantic, mainly on Saturday. This will add to already wet grounds and could enhance flooding or at least allow more flash flooding. Behind the front, slightly cooler but definitely much less humid air is expected.

Quickly behind the above mentioned front will be a second, stronger front that will aid in bringing a real change from the Upper Midwest to the Southeast. Much cooler air with breezy conditions will be found for a few days. By Tuesday, the coolest air will be found Upper Midwest/Great Lakes/Ohio Valley, where temperatures will be about 5 to 8 degrees below normal for afternoon highs. That will follow morning minimums in the 30s for portions of North Dakota/Minnesota/Wisconsin.

Wednesday, most of the nation along and east of the Mississippi River and along and north of the Tennessee River will see cool, below normal temperatures in the range of 5 to 8 degrees. Morning minimum temperatures will drop into the 40s from Tennessee northward with 30s possible across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Afternoon temperatures will generally be in the 70s from I-20 northward with 60s from the Ohio River northward and 50s in the Great Lakes into New England.

This cooler air, with the shortening days, will aid in speeding up the change in colors, too, of the leaves across much of the Eastern U.S. Color is already nearing peak across much of the Upper Midwest into the Great Lakes and even into portions of New England. In addition, color is rapidly coming out in the Rockies. I would love to share some of the brilliance of the season with everyone but I need your help. If you have pictures of the Fall colors in your area and would like to share please email (dopplerdale@dopplerdale.com) your pictures to me with your location and name (if you want) included.