With the weather in Georgia staying dry, and seemingly no end to the weather pattern that we’re in, there hasn’t been a lot of weather news to talk about. In fact, for most of the country, it’s been dry. But that’s not the case elsewhere.

In Mexico, 1 million people have been displaced, and there has been over $700 million dollars in damage due to flooding in the state of Tabasco. Some are calling the situation as bad as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Meanwhile, in England, massive storms in the North Sea are expected to cause severe flooding and a tidal wave on the east coast of Britain. Officials there have closed a barrier at the mouth of the Thames river to prevent inland flooding.

Closer to home, most of North Georgia got its first freeze of the season last night. Temperatures here in Lawrenceville dropped to 28.5 on my thermometer early this morning. In Summerville it got down to 21 degrees, which appears to be the low for the state so far, followed closely by Peachtree City, which reported 22 degrees. Due to the city heat island, it only reached 32 degrees at Atlanta Hartsfield.

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It looks like North Georgia is headed into some fine weather this weekend, with mostly clear skies, and high temperatures close to normal. There are a couple of quick weather-related items to keep an eye on as you enjoy the weekend:

• In years past, this would be the weekend we would ‘Fall Back’, and reset our clocks to standard time. Due to the changes made to the time law two years ago, that date has now been pushed back a week to accommodate the Halloween trick or treaters. The main downside to this, at least for those of us in the western part of the time zone, is that on the last day of Daylight Savings Time on November 3rd, the sun won’t be rising until 7:58 AM. Watch your computerized automated clocks tomorrow morning; some may not be programmed to recognize the new time change date.
• Early Tuesday morning could bring the coldest weather so far into the region. with overnight temperatures dropping below 40 degrees. There will be a warmup after that, but only short term. By the week of November 5th, we could be seeing temperatures in the low to mid 30s. Actually, that’s about normal. The first freeze date in the Atlanta area is typically around November 10th. Last year, Athens recorded the first freeze on October 24th, but it took until November 21st in Atlanta. In any case, now would be a good time to think about bringing in any plants you plan to keep over the winter.
• High pressure is likely to keep metro Atlanta rain free this week. The big question is whether the tropical season is going to come through with one more shot. Forecasters are keeping an eye on an area of low pressure south of Haiti that could develop into a tropical depression or storm early next week. Forecast models indicate that if it develops, the storm could pass across the Gulf of Mexico, and curve back over Florida. We will see if this comes to pass, and if it will bring some needed rain to Georgia.

Atlanta’s weather experienced a sudden change over the weekend, as temperatures dropped about 20 degrees compared to what we saw earlier in the month. The change was brought on by the first major upper level low pressure system driving cold air into the area.

The coldest of the temperatures for this round will be tonight and Wednesday, with temperatures in the upper 30s. Temps should stay below normal through the end of the first week of November, when we may see daytime temperatures above 70 degrees again.

The warmer than normal temperatures during the first part of the month, combined with a dry September have played havoc with the normal fall color and leaf peeping season. Last weekend I drove to Cincinnati and back. While Kentucky was beautiful, Tennessee and North Carolina, even in the Smokies, was still largely green, although clearly the leaves on the trees were thinner than they would be in midsummer. With little to no rain forecast for the next two weeks, we may see a less spectacular than normal fall season.

In case you’re wondering, the first freeze in the Atlanta area is normally around November 10th. Since 1948, the earliest freeze recorded at Hartsfield Airport was on October 18th, in 1948, and the latest freeze was on December 18th, in 1998. Of course, conditions at Hartsfield can vary a lot from what we see in Gwinnett. Last year, I recorded a freeze on November 14th, although Hartsfield didn’t see temperatures that low until December 14th.

What’s your guess for when we’ll see the first freeze of the year?