I love October!

I've lived in Texoma most of my life, and I can now say with a fair amount of confidence that this area's best weather comes in October. Honestly, if there was a place in America where morning lows were in the 50s and daytime highs were in the mid and upper 70s year round, I would move there. Well, at least I would seriously entertain that thought. Ahh October, not too hot, rarely too cold, commonly just right. My favorite temperature is 75. To me that's perfection. Clouds or sun, 75 works for me. for me, Texoma weather is at it's best when, in the late afternoon under partly cloudy skies and light winds, temperatures top out in the mid and upper 70s. It borders on blasphemy to be indoors. Here's another reason I like October weather...it's easier to forecast. It's not so much that my skills as a forecaster get better as afternoon shadows grow in length, it's that the tools and data we use to develop the forecast become more reliable. The scale of the weather dynamics grows. It's like stopping at stop sign on a rural highway and looking down the road to see what's coming. It's much easier to see an 18 wheeler than it is a Mini Cooper. Well, in the summer time, July, August, September, its all Mini Coopers all the time. In October, 18 wheelers (strong cold front and well-defined troughs) start heading our way. If there's a major change coming, it can be seen as many as 7 days away. I like that! I, myself have been guilty of uttering the stereotypical "The summer forecast is easy...hot and dry, right?!" but, in all honesty summertime forecasting can really be tiresome. It's what happens between hot and dry that troubles the forecaster. Little, microscale disturbances that drift aimlessly across the southern plains that can make the difference between drought and deluge. Yuk. And gridded forecast models rarely help. So, in summary, not only do I love October weather, I love forecasting October weather. Football helps things too, but I digress...

John