By MARK HANOK
Now that north has become
a synonym for sunshine
and south has become
a synonym for rain, there’s
no way that this extremely
dry weather pattern can
change at least for the next
four weeks.
In fact, we’ll be very
lucky to get a third of the
normal precipitation for
April, and we’ll get very
little rain during the first
half of May.
Since we’ll get many
brilliantly sunny days
through the middle of May,
and the evaporation rate is
very high this time of year,
the water level in the
Susquehanna River could
be unusually low for the
General Clinton Canoe Regatta
on Memorial Day
weekend.
One of the best key indicators
for a continuation of
this exceptionally dry
weather pattern, was on
April 7 when there were
snow flurries in Atlanta
while highs were around 70
degrees in Montana.
Since then we just can’t
break the pattern of every
storm sliding well to the
south and missing our area.
The most recent storm on
Tuesday and Wednesday
completely missed Otsego
County, without a trace of
rain.
On Friday another major
storm will move across
the southern Great Plains,
eastern Texas could get
some much-needed rain.
High pressure from the
Great Lakes to mid-Atlantic
states will bring spectacular
weather to the Cooperstown
area, with
unlimited sunshine, azureblue
skies, and desert-dry
air; highs from 65 to 70 degrees.
Look for more of the
same on Saturday as a
back-door cold front stays
to the north over northern
New England. Skies will be
mostly sunny with highs in
the low 60s.
The familiar pattern will
take shape on Sunday, as
low pressure tracks eastward
to Tennessee and
spreads rain eastward to
the Gulf States and north
to the Ohio Valley. But
even with the warmer air
in the Northeast, upperlevel
winds will still be out
of the northwest and the
rain will slide to the south
once again.
It looks like a partly
sunny Sunday with highs
from 55 to 60 degrees.
Sunshine will be followed
by increasing cloudiness
on Monday with highs
in the mid-50s, then we
could get some light rain on
Monday night and Tuesday
morning as the low moves
east of the New England
coast.
Then skies will be partly
sunny Tuesday afternoon
with a cool northerly breeze
and highs from 50 to 55 degrees.
Mark Hanok is an Otsego-
based meteorologist.
