Fall weather came right on time along Interstate 81 corridor
The first day of autumn was Thursday, and it felt like it along the Interstate 81 corridor.
Two cold fronts pushed through the region over the past few days and brought in cooler air from Canada, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service.
“We had a cold front that passed through yesterday that was pretty potent,” said Chesnea Skeen at the forecast office in Sterling, Va.
Thursday had the lowest average temperature of the month so far — 65.5 degrees — in the Hagerstown area, according to historical data at weather.gov. The same data was unavailable for Chambersburg and Franklin County, but the Harrisburg area’s average temperature of 66 degrees was the third-lowest of the month.
A brisk breeze, especially later in the day, made it sweater weather.
“Yesterday it just happened right on time, by coincidence,” said Bill Gartner, a meteorologist at the NWS in State College, Pa.
More:These Washington County teens want to make a splash in Major League Fishing
What’s the forecast for the coming days?
After a cool day Friday, the weekend will warm up a bit.
The high temperature Saturday will be in the low 70s, according to the NWS. It will be slightly warmer Sunday, in the mid- to upper-70s.
Showers are likely Sunday, more so in the afternoon and evening. There may be a thunderstorm.
High temperatures in the low 70s are in the forecast again Monday before a cool down into the mid-60s as the week goes on, according to NWS forecasts for Hagerstown and Chambersburg. Sunny skies will reign through at least Thursday.
Accuweather predicts the week will feel slightly cooler, dropping from the mid-60s on Tuesday to the low-60s in the following days.
Overnight lows are expected to drop down into the mid-40s by midweek, according to the NWS. Residents in northern Pennsylvania may have frost, Gartner said.
Doesn’t it normally get cooler later?
While there are some years when fall still feels like summer well into October, Gartner said the weather we’re experiencing now isn’t unordinary.
“It’s very typical for this time of year, cooler air coming in from Canada,” he said.
If the forecast holds up, the coming week will turn out slightly cooler than the same week in the past five years. High daily temperatures in the region this coming week were mostly in the 70s and 80s going back to 2019. 2018 was slightly cooler than that, while 2017 had a few days in the 90s.
Looking ahead, above-average temperatures are expected in the mid-Atlantic and neighboring parts of the country in October, November and December, according to the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center. Precipitation should be normal.
More:Pennsylvania woman hits 3 holes-in-one this year at Penn National
What about Hurricane Fiona?
Canada is bracing for Hurricane Fiona, which is expected to pummel Nova Scotia by Saturday and “has the potential to be a landmark weather event in Eastern Canada,” the Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted. Now a Category 4 hurricane, the storm previously flooded much of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republican and knocked out electricity and other utilities for more than a million people, CNN reported.
The storm will pass far off the U.S. East Coast, however, and is not expected to have any impact here, according to the NWS.
However, a different storm may mean a different story this time next week.
A tropical depression formed in the Caribbean Friday and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it travels northwest toward Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“There could be some impacts along the East Coast, but it’s too soon to tell,” Gartner said.
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Fall weather came right on time along Interstate 81 corridor in MD, PA
