Oct 13: A Month of Transition with a Nor'easter, Tropical Storm, California Rain, and Severe Threat

As we approach the halfway point of not only October but meteorological Fall, we are reminded of this transitional season by the current existence of a nor'easter, tropical storm, Western rain and snow, and the potential for severe weather this weekend:

First up, the nor'easter that has been plaguing the east coast for much of this weekend and today. Take a look at the video and conditions from our station in Pawtucket, RI. Just a miserable day with constant rain and wind gusts over 35 mph:

It's a bit early in the season for a storm like this, but not completely unheard of. The system caused moderate to major coastal flooding from Florida to Virginia. In fact, in the video below you can see some of the coastal flooding near Jacksonville Beach on Friday:

It also brought heavy rain from Florida to Southern New England:

The good news is that the nor'easter has peaked and will be moving away over the next day and conditions will be improving:

Next up, early season California rain and snow will peak overnight Monday into Tuesday and bring significant rain. It is a bit early for this as most places across California average less than an inch of rain for the month of October:

A large area of 1"+ rainfall is possible, especially in the higher elevations as the storm moves through: 

Watch throughout the day today as clouds lowered and thickened at our station in the foothills of the Sierra: 

There's also a slight chance of a severe storm across Southern California tomorrow with damaging winds and even a marginal risk of a tornado:

Ventura Country has several Weatherstem stations that we will be tracking closely as the storm moves through, follow them here. With California's rainy season quickly approaching, it's not too late to get your community ready for the season. Reach out at this link for more information! 

This Western system is going to eventually move into the center of the country and bring the threat for severe weather this weekend. There's a lot of unknowns at this point but the Storm Prediction Center has already highlighted an area for potential severe weather for Saturday for parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois: 

While most people think of spring as severe weather season, there is often a second severe season that begins in October and goes through November. We will have more information on this threat in the days to come. 

And finally, we are still very much in the Atlantic Hurricane season. Since our last update, we added Jerry, Karen, and most recently Lorenzo:

 Fortunately, both Jerry and Karen did not impact the US and Lorenzo will also remain well away from the US (and most land masses):

There are still about 6 weeks left and there has been signs from the models that we aren't quite done. A low-riding African wave is forecast to approach the Caribbean in about a week as you can see by most of the ensembles below:

It would be a little unusual to have a storm form there this time of year as you can see by the image below but not completely unprecedented. Still, a long time to watch it to see if it will make it. As of this post, we still have not had a hurricane make landfall in the US this season.