With October 1st a day away now is the time we should start planning for the winter season.   Even though the weather is rather nice this week weather forecasters are calling for a cold front to enter our area with lower temperatures at the end of the week.    This time of the year is when we secure the outside of our homes – some of us shut off our outside water, put away seasonal furniture, clean up our garden beds, take out the window air conditioners, and put up the storm windows.   Many will check their car’s tire tread,  put in winter windshield washer and have the garage check the antifreeze at the next oil change.  Various winter forecasts show that we may have a cold and snowy winter depending on who you listen to this winter could be 4 to 5 degrees colder than normal which means snow at shore the same time they get snow inland and some predictions are calling for 75 percent increase in precipitation.  Considering the intensity of the rain storms we have been getting it would be no surprise to receive more snow this year.  Preparedness is the key to survival during the winter.  Winter preparedness tips are available here.

To get a better understanding of the weather forecasts there are some YouTube videos posted by quite a few meteorologist in which they take the time to go in detail how they came about to make the forecast.   These videos are useful for those that want to learn the facts behind the forecast.  Most show you the websites they go to use to get their raw data and how to interpret the data.  Some of the terminology gets technical at times.   Here are some of the YouTube weather video pages that will show all the the videos that the particular Youtuber uploaded.   Some of them post weekly forecasts along with long range winter forecasts.   Take the time to check them out they are (click on their name to take to you their page) Direct WeatherWeather Decoded,   MBCG Combo,  and WeatherWorks.   These are only a few of the weather forecasters that are available on YouTube.