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ASHLAND CITY WEATHER

Unusual weather pattern may continue all year




We have never seen October temperatures like we have just experienced. Three straight days of highs in the mid-to-upper 90s to get the month started. 

Not only were we breaking the daily records, but also the all-time high for October was set. Several cities hit 99 last week and many hit 98. September was one of the hottest and driest ever and we certainly won’t forget it anytime soon. 

The cooler air will settle in over Middle Tennessee this week with highs ranging from 75 to 80 on most days from Tuesday to Thursday. An even stronger cold front is expected from Oct. 11-13, bringing more showers and dropping the temperatures at night into the 40s. 

Back in the 1980s when I started meteorology, the normal thing that you would expect would be a hot summer followed by a bad winter. This is not as reliable an indicator as it used to be. I am not sure if we should blame it on global warming but the weather patterns have changed. 

If the flip side of this summer heat wave comes this winter, I don’t want to even think about it do you? 

Just this past week, we have seen a record heat wave in the South, a record blizzard in Montana, strongest hurricane ever recorded so late in the season in the eastern Atlantic and tornadoes in the Midwest. 

I think this wild ride of weather may just be beginning, especially as we approach the start of winter. November can bring anything from tornadoes to snow and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either or both.

Steve Norris provides information to Emergency Management Agencies in many counties in Tennessee. You may contact him at weather1@charter.net with questions or suggest topics for his column.

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