Douglas: Autumn is taking its sweet time this year

Hurricane Helene will brush the Tampa area with hurricane-force winds on Thursday. Tallahassee may experience 110-mph gusts and widespread power outages. A 1-in-100-year flood is forecast for much of Georgia. Helene is the fourth hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year and the fifth hurricane to strike Florida since 2022.

Another billion-dollar disaster? Count on it. According to USAFacts, of the 10 years with the most natural disasters, nine were in the last decade. The U.S. has gone from an average of 3.3 separate billion-dollar disasters in the ‘80s to 17-plus between 2014 and 2023. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information cites increased exposure, vulnerability and climate change as reasons for the increase.

The Twin Cities National Weather Service says this will most likely be the warmest and driest September on record in the Twin Cities. A July-like weekend is on tap, and ECMWF predicts eight more days at or above 80 degrees through the first week of October.

Autumn is taking its sweet old time this year, but don’t be misled. Winter is coming. Count on it.