Just another
apectacular autumn
weekend!
By MARK HANOK
Exactly as we predicted,
the extremely dry
weather pattern has continued
right through the
first half of October, with
only about a third of an
inch of rain at our weather
station in Otego. That’s
only about one-fifth, or 20
percent of the normal precipitation
for the month.
Sure enough, the long
Columbus Day weekend
featured beautiful weather,
coinciding with the
best fall foliage in several
years. The Otsego County
landscape was like a kaleidoscope
of brilliant colors.
It’s like every leaf is
turning color at the same
time, especially the bright
orange, red, and golden
maples and the pumpkincolored
and russet hickories
and butterscotch
beeches.
On Saturday I went on
an Otsego Lake boat
cruise on the Glimmerglass
Queen. This hourlong
cruise is a great value,
and you really get to
see magnificent Otsego
Lake. It was the perfect
day to be on this spectacular
lake, and to view the
beautiful shoreline and go
past Kingfisher Tower,
surrounded by bright fall
colors. Sunday brought a
continuation of magnificent
weather, and it felt
more like summer with
bright sunshine and highs
around 70 degrees. Although
skies were mostly
cloudy on Monday, temperatures
continued well
above normal.
Although it will be
much cooler for the upcoming
weekend, temperatures
will only be getting
back to normal, as another
large Canadian high
settles southward to the
Great Lakes.
On Friday skies will be
partly sunny with a refreshingly
cool northwest
breeze and highs only in
the mid-50’s. Partly to
mostly sunny skies will
continue on Saturday and
Sunday, with highs
around 60 degrees.
On Monday a weak cold
front will cross the region,
but ahead of the front a
southwesterly flow will
bring milder air. Skies
will be partly sunny with
highs in the low 60’s. Then
a northwesterly flow will
reinforce the very dry
weather pattern, with
mostly sunny skies on
Tuesday, and highs from
53 to 58 degrees.
