Weather Eye: It’s a fine time for raking leaves, but storms on way

Wednesday was one of those textbook autumn days, foggy in the morning with afternoon sunshine and fairly calm winds. One of those lazy days to rake the leaves or, in many cases, use a leaf blower, moving them who knows where.

All those brilliant leaves, many of which are history now, have settled upon the earth waiting for nature’s natural disposal process. It seems like forever that I have used a leaf rake to corral them all and either place them in the garden or haul them away.

I decided to go modern this year and purchased an electric leaf blower. Wow, what took quite a bit of time now is reduced to just minutes. Even if the leaves are soggy after a good rain, they lift and are corralled for disposal.

The weather forecast for the annual chore of leaf removal is good for today and Friday. Dry weather is upon us before we enter into a stormy and wet period late Friday and into all of Thanksgiving week.

The roller coast ride begins this weekend, so hang on to your hat, literally that is. Gusty winds will be present at the coast and even here in the valleys. We should see blustery conditions as weather systems roll through every 24 to 36 hours. A good period for storm watching at the ocean beaches, if you like that kind of thing.

The higher ski resorts are slated to pick up a bunch of snow over the weekend and most of Thanksgiving week. The freezing level will bump up and down, but areas above 5,000 feet should remain all snow. The mountain passes will be marginal but will see some snow at times after frontal passages.

Don’t forget the winter forecast meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday at OMSI; the public is invited.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at Weather Systems.