Here Comes Fall...

As I look at some chilly air surging southward towards us tonight, I'm reminded about Hurricane Rita that followed Katrina back in 2005.  Rita plowed westward across the Gulf during Sept. 18-25th landing on the upper Texas coast.  Yep, we are still in the heart of Hurricane Season, but with the MJO in the unfavorable stage(sinking air) and an east coast trough bringing down cold front off our coast, one gets the feeling IF any late season storm does come, the current westerly wind shear over the Gulf will send it far to our south and east.  What I'm seeing set up is a pattern that could bring much colder air down to the eastern U.S for this Fall & Winter compared to last year when it was almost a year without a winter.  If so, that will effectively end this tropical season for us but it could mean we'll be dealing with some "pipe busting" temps come Dec & January.  Gotta love the extremes in Weather, like the winters of '77 & 78 before Global Warming.  I learn a lot from studying past weather history.