High temperature for Monday: 69 degrees (that's not a typo)

With any luck, yesterday will be the last day we see temperatures above 90°F. The high temperature for Monday is forecast to be 69°F at Cape Girardeau. If this happens, it will be the first day since May 10 that the high temperature has remained below 70°F.

So far this year, we have had 70 days where the temperature broke 90°F and 3 days where it broke 100°F. By comparison, in 2009 we only had 23 days with 90°F heat, while the thermometer never came close to threatening 100°F.

The medium-range 6-10 and 8-14 day forecasts are both calling for below-average temperatures in the area, something I haven't seen predicted in months. This means, of course, that we will go from ridiculously hot summer temperatures to ridiculously cold autumn temperatures, leaving about 3.2 seconds of pleasant weather in between. Welcome to Missouri.

Precipitation is still likely to be slightly below normal. This is bad news for the Missouri Bootheel, which has been upgraded (or downgraded, depending on your point of view) to a "Severe Drought" classification. Cape Girardeau has escaped the full-blown drought, remaining in the "Abnormally Dry" category.

With winter fast approach, it's time to start thinking about the Weather or Not Official Winter Storm Dartboard-and-Wild-Guessing Naming System. We're starting to run low on characters from The Simpsons, so it's time to find another source of names for snow and ice storms. Any suggestions?