Weather Eye: November, what weather surprises will you bring us?

I have no idea how we lucked out with such nice weather for Halloween weekend. I believe almost everyone was outside enjoying the sunshine and mild temperatures. Those gusty east winds were sure blowing Saturday, especially east of I-205.

Waiting in line to get my car washed was the name of the game in Salmon Creek on Saturday. Everyone had the same idea, I think. Then I was out blowing leaves, and the neighborhood was a chorus of leaf blowers. Whatever happened to the old leaf rake?

The aurora borealis was expected to appear Saturday night to our far north as a good solar event took place. There were some hazy high clouds at sunset, so I don’t know if it remained clear enough to see it. It’s best away from city lights, for sure.

What is heading our way as we open a new month? November, what surprises will you bring us? It’ll be a mixed bag this week, with perhaps a dry Tuesday and Wednesday, then most likely showers later in the week. There is a good chance we could have a vigorous storm upon us next Saturday, with wind and rain.

Other than that, we’ll plug along and keep our weather eye peeled for a major pattern change.

I thank all of you who sent me photos of the woolly bears that you came across the past couple of months. Taking an average, we have a general consensus for their winter prediction.

The orange middle band tended to be more narrow than wide, indicating a colder-than-average winter. The solid-black band near the head indicates a mild start to winter, and many had a long black band toward the rear, which foretells a harsh winter later on — probably later in December into January and February.

And given the fact we are having a second year with LaNiña, the odds favor wetter and cooler weather. I also believe we will have a good snowpack in the Cascades, but the woolly bears say it may be a little too warm for a blockbuster Thanksgiving opening for the ski season.

We’ll chat again on Tuesday.