While we’re sitting around here in benign 90+ degree temps looking for something, anything, to change the dynamics of a typical Southwestern fall weather pattern – even a breezy night would be a welcome change! – the folks back east are about to get their first taste of a winter-like weather pattern that would bring quite different results were it a month from now. A significant Great Lakes blow and a storm rolling up the Eastern seaboard bringing wind and soaking rains to folks who really don’t need more rain is a telltale sign that winter can’t be far behind.

Back where I’m from, once you get past the middle of October all bets are off. You can get some major storms at any given time. And the folks who live in and around the Great Lakes know the same thing. Here in the Valley of the Sun, the heat and clouds and dust of monsoon season have given way to weeks upon weeks of bright sunny and warm days that will pass without interruption until early December when, if we’re lucky the first storms from the “Pineapple Express” will roll through, bringing some welcome precipitation.

But until then, this weather lover will just have to experience the early onset of winter vicariously through Accuweather.com.