Severe Weather Threat, Temps Tumble

I took this picture after the November 10th, 2002 tornado outbreak in Bledsoe County, TN. Even though the Bledsoe County tornado was rated F1, the damage was fairly impressive at this location and two other spots where the tornado skipped through the county. But the scenes from Cumberland County were absolutely heart breaking.
As outlined in Friday's post November can be a very active severe weather month for us. And right now it appears the threat for strong to severe storms is increasing for Tuesday night through early Wednesday. So we will watch this next front very closely the next couple of days. A healthy drop in temperatures will occur with some stiff north winds Wednesday behind this boundary. So for the next 2 1/2 days keep the umbrella handy, something that we haven't had to say much recently. In fact,as of this morning:

• November rainfall is 1.99" below normal
• Rainfall since Sept. 1st is 6.89" below normal
• Rainfall since Jan. 1st is 7.97" below normal

The old saying is make hay while you can, and a lot of people took advantage of the weather this weekend to clean up leaves. Every where I drove on Saturday I saw baggers on mowers, riding mowers with the bagger trailers, and the distant whine of leaf blowers could be heard everywhere. My yard was whipped into shape one more time. That should do it for the majority of the leaves. And I climbed up on the roof to clear out the gutters with the help of ye olde leaf blower. Aluminum ladders make a distinctive rattling sound when they are being carried. As I was wrapping up my gutter patrol, I heard the familiar rattling sound. The neighbor two doors down was on his way up, with ye olde leaf blower in hand. Ahhhhhhhh, the sweet sounds of Autumn.