Good morning! Happy Sunday. Cloudy, damp and 57 degrees out hiking in the fields of Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville. Calm wind. The dew point is 55 degrees. The skies will clear Tuesday around 7 am.

The colors are starting to come out a bit, although the trees are still mostly green with some yellow popping in locations. Columbus Day will be close to peak color, although it may be fairly late in these lower elevations. On a cloudy day like this you get better pictures if you set the white balance set properly on the camera, although that can be fixed on post processing if the photos aren’t over exposed. I’m afraid I didn’t get a good picture of the buck that ran out in the field. 

Joggers on the trails are pretty annoying but it is still pretty quiet on the open meadows that dominate the hilltops up here. 

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 69 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 4pm. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. The record high of 85 was set in 1927. The sun will set at 6:41 pm with dusk around 7:10 pm, which is 1 minutes and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 

As we head towards the winter solstice, our days quickly get shorter. Today will have 11 hours and 37 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.I remember back to the 26th when we had 12 hours of light and day. Thank God for coal fired power plants, electric lamps, and headlights. 

Tonight will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, then a chance of showers. Low around 53, with a low of 53 degrees at 6am. Another mild evening. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 6pm. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1945.

There are 2 weeks until the Hunter’s  Moon when the sun will be setting at 6:18 pm with dusk at 6:46 pm. The average high temperature is 60 degrees, with a record high of 88 in 1947. Autumn always comes and goes so quickly.