After the heat comes the fall: Get ready for summer and autumn within 36 hours
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Autumn is known as a season of extremes. Situated between summer and winter, fall features air invasions from both the tropics and the North Pole.
The sun angle is getting lower (allowing cold Canadian air masses to develop), but not low enough to prevent some seriously warm weather as well.
This week is a prime example: several feet of snow fell in the Rocky Mountains of Montana during the past few days, while farther east, temperatures have been soaring into the 90s across parts of the southeast and Ohio Valley.
While 90 degree heat is not completely unheard of in October, it's pretty rare around here.
In fact, the last time Central Park reached 90 degrees on any day in October was in 1941, and it's only happened on five occasions in 150 years of record-keeping.
It's a rare feat, but Wednesday's summery surge will be quickly followed by truly autumn air by Thursday as temperatures struggle to get out of the 50s (along with rain).
The jet stream becomes more energetic this time of the year because of these big variations in temperature, and that means fast-moving fronts and quick changes in the weather in any given location.
Fall is quirky to say the least, but if you don't like the weather, you won't have to wait very long for it to change!
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