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On Monday, we have a forecast high of 86°. If we hit 86°, it will have the hottest Halloween since 1900! If we only hit 85°, we will have the hottest Halloween since 1950. Here's an old climate log from October of 1950: While looking at the old climate logs from 1950, I noticed something interesting! Even though it was HOT on Halloween, it SNOWED on Thanksgiving! Not only did it snow, but we had SINGLE-DIGIT lows in November of 1950. Look:  In other words, don't let the warm October fool yah! Winter is coming soon! <evil laugh> Ryan

It initially looked like it was going to be a chilly Halloween; then the data started changing each day for the past week. Now, it looks like it could be the warmest Halloween in at least 66 years! In the above graph, I researched the hottest Halloweens on record. In 1900, we were 86° and in 1950, 1933 and 1915 we were 85°. The forecast high right now for Monday is 85°. Maybe the Tarzan costume is not a bad idea! Kidding.... We will watch it closely to see where we rank in 2016, but one thing is for sure.... leave the coats at home! Ryan

It's going to be a hot day across Region 8! Forecast highs are in the upper 80s to near 90. Warm, southerly winds will continue today ahead of the cold front that will come in on Thursday. That front will leave us with a cool weekend, but not before a HOT week. I did some research with Rachel last night and we pulled the record highs for every location in Region 8. Some of these places only kept records for a few years and some locations had multiple reporting sites. I compiled a list of them all and highlighted the stations that had the longest consecutive years of reporting. You can see how close we will be to the records today! Click images to enlarge: This may be the last gasp of summer. I do not see any 80s in the forecast beyond Thursday for at least a couple of weeks. Stay cool! -Ryan

We have been very accurate in recent years with our winter weather forecasts, but I still want to remind people that it's a LONG range outlook with a high chance of error. I like to look at the past to predict the future and the 2016-2017 outlook is no exception. We initially thought that we would come out of the strong El Niño and go straight into a moderate La Niña, but that's not panning out. Therefore, we have made some last minute audibles to our winter weather forecast. Here we go... December 2016 through February 2017 in Region 8 I expect  the first half of Winter to be VERY COLD. In fact, it could be the coldest December we have seen in a few years.  I expect the second half of Winter to be milder. In fact, we may see a preview of Spring in February with highs in the 60s and 70s on a few days. Beware, warmer temperatures could lead to severe thunderstorms. Overall, I expect above average precipitation this winter. (Rain, snow, and ice) Overall, I expect 3-5 w...