Mild air likely to dominate the first half of October

Signals are strong for a strong and persistent upper-level ridge to set up shop from the Hudson Bay to northern Ontario for the first two to three weeks of October. This will likely result in a prolonged stretch of abnormally mild conditions across central and eastern North America.

Farther west, a trough will likely hang out just off the British Columbia coast, keeping extreme western Canada and the Pacific Northwest slightly cooler and wetter.

With such a strong ridge this far north, there may be some mischief over the southern United States from Texas to the Carolinas with opportunities for rainfall, which will also keep temperatures near normal for the most part.