Expect warmer-than-usual weather into December

Sussex farmers have taken advantage of a couple of weeks - finally - of dry weather to cut corn. Combines and bean vining machines have been on the roadways making their way from field to field to get in the crops.

It’s definitely been a year for picking spots. As of Oct. 7, we’re running ahead of average on temperature and rainfall. In the week between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, the temperature averaged 74 degrees compared to a normal average for this time of year of 61 degrees. That’s a big difference. And rainfall? Rain gauges have recorded about 40 inches of rain in Sussex County from the first of the year through Oct. 7. That’s three inches above the normal average at this point.

The warmth and moisture should come as no surprise to anyone keeping an eye on mildew and mold. I spent a whole day last week with three bottles of mildew remover as I wiped down painted wood surfaces all over my house that have grown one heck of a crop. Bleach does the job.

Although it looks to cool off for this weekend, Accuweather long-range forecaster Max Vito said he expects the warmer-than-usual trend to continue through December. “You can expect the mosquitoes and flies to be around a little longer than usual. You’ll need a cold air mass to sweep them out, and we don’t see any sustained cold air for a while.”

Vito said this year’s first frost along the coast, usually around the beginning of November, could hold off until mid-November. “We’re just not seeing a switch to much colder weather. It’s going to stay warmer than usual for a while.”

But the winter, when it gets here, could be more interesting this year than last. “We’re seeing an El Niño pattern forming in the Pacific that could influence the southern jet stream. That could send more moisture across the Southeast and give us the potential for more mixed precipitation and a greater likelihood of snow toward the end of January and into early February. That’s when that moisture coming across the South could move up the coast and hit some of the colder air masses that usually develop that time of the year,” said Vito.

That scenario, he said, would be opposite of last year when we experienced a cold snap toward the end of December that lasted into mid-January. Then the winter warmed up. He said with the pattern he sees developing going into this winter, winds could be an issue. “We’ll have to keep a close eye on coastal flooding and erosion.”

In the meantime, up in State College, Pa., headquarters for Accuweather, Vito said there’s lots of mushroom activity, and everyone there fully expects to be mowing their lawns into mid-November. That’s making for grumpiness in Happy Valley. “They’re all complaining about it.”

But not so much about the Penn State football team. They’re doing well. Off to a 4-1 start with the loss a close one to Ohio State.

His final word on the weather we should expect in the winter ahead: “I think it’s going to be an interesting winter, though it may take awhile to get going. That could change, of course. But that’s the way we’re leaning based on what we have now.”