The same high pressure dome that is deflecting Hurricane Ike toward Texas is pulling warm, moist air into the Midwest. Unlike the cool, dry air of this past week, this balmy air mass resists heating and cooling; our highs and lows of the next two days will be within 6 or 7 degrees F of each other while temperatures spanned a range of 20-25 degrees F when the air was dry and the skies were clear.
Our overnight low was 67, producing a frenzy of insect calls more typical of mid August. Just ten days short of the equinox, these crickets and katydids feel the instinctual pressure to breed before the autumn chill ends their reign. Many humans, disdainful of the cold, also welcome this balmy flow, a short-lived respite from the march toward winter.
Showers developed this morning and, as the next cold front approaches, the rain will intensify tonight. By the weekend, autumn will reclaim the Heartland.
