November brings change
And then the sun took a step back and the leaves lulled themselves to sleep and autumn awakened; a quote from Raquel Franco. What a beautiful time of the year with the colors of fall fading and the leaves surrendering their hold on their trees and making their journey back to be part of the soil that will enrich our plants next spring as the cycle begins again.
So it is with life as we, too, journey through our seasons. Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy the annual fall spectacular put on by Mother Nature. Each season I think it will not be as good as last year and each season the show just gets better. Perhaps with my aging I have learned to be ready and take full advantage of the show each year. As ones ages, it seems a deeper appreciation arises from within and extra time is coveted to be at one with nature.
After some lovely October weather with lots of sunny, pleasant mild days November usually takes a turn to the colder side with a several cold snaps and our first snowflakes. For the most part the early snows are just fleeting, however snow can fall on any November day but we average less that 2 inches for the month.
In 1950 Southwestern Pennsylvania had what is still known as the Big Snow. It occurred over Thanksgiving and produced from 10 to 30 inches of the white stuff. Just about every date in November has seen an inch or two over the years. In 1962 no snow was recorded for the entire month. In 1933 Corry collected 61 inches for the month.
Lake effect snows can bring lots of snow to Northwestern Counties as the lakes waters are often 20 degrees or more warmer than the air coming across them and this sets the stage for these Lake Effect snows.
To me there is always something magical about the first snowflakes of the season, although our recent move from the mountains to town results in a big difference in snowfall totals for the season. Mountains average 88 inches and town just about 38 inches per season.
The big change in November is the loss of sunlight as the days rapidly grow shorter and even the possible sunshine declines with many more cloudy days. In October we see the sun for 51% of the time possible and in November the average drops to 36% of possible. Temperatures continue their decline with averages on the first day of the month at 60 for the high and 40 for the low falling to 43 and 29 by month蘑菇视频 end.
Records are a high of 85 and a low of 1 below zero. Eighties are rare and so too are below zero readings. Some years we are treated to a second or even a third period of Indian summer with sunny pleasant days and mild temperatures in the 60s and even a 70-degree day.
In 1994 no frost was recorded until November 11th. Rainfall averages 3.46 inches for the month, and on the 21st 1985 3.23 inches fell.
The Climate Prediction Center is looking for temperatures to be about average for the month and rainfall just a tad below normal.
One final note to report is that at the end of October I have completed 50,049 miles on my bike. My goal was twice around the planet or 49,802 miles. Of course it took over 20 years, but at 81 who cares.