Storms and Cooler Weather In Forecast/3 Month Temperature and Precipitation Outlooks

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Tomas is weakening in the eastern Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center has it moving basically westward and then turning toward the northeast in about 4 to 5 days. This would take it over the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

On Monday, the coolest area of the country will be the northeast with highs in the 40s The rest of the northern 2/3rds of the country will have highs in the 50s and 60s. The west coast will have highs in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The southwest, south and southeast will have highs mainly in the 70s and 80s. There is a slight risk of severe storms in eastern Texas.

Houston, Monday will be warm and humid with a slight risk of severe storms (mainly in the late afternoon and evening). Cold front moves through early Tuesday, bringing less humid weather and cooler temperatures. The rest of the week into the weekend will be delightful with cool morning and mild sunny and dry afternoons.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do palm tree or palmera, pronounced pahl-MAIR-ah. Could growing palmeras be the key to your retirement? See my idea in the AND MORE section.

Volume 3 of our award winning DVD for children is really close to being finished. Our editor just gave us the complete final draft (with all chaptes!!!). So, now we just have to put on the finishing touches and then it is off to the editor. Woohoo!!! In the meantime, you can find my award winning education series, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volumes 1 and 2, on the shelf (in the education section) at Barnes & Noble stores or you can order them from http://www.frankandpaco.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.bn.com, http://www.bestbuy.com, or http://www.ebay.com/. Our ESL (English as a Second Language) version can be found at http://www.frankypaco.com.

AND MORE

Palm Trees as An Investment
So I'm running on the treadmill and partaking of one of my guilty pleasures...watching HGTV when whom do I see? Why it's Vanilla Ice with his own show. Yes, that's right Vanilla Ice--remember "Ice, Ice Baby". Well apparently he is an expert on landscaping and that his is daytime job. He has this crew working on fixing up the landscaping on the property of a very expensive house which has been vacant for 2 years. He points out a rare palm tree...he says it takes a long time to grow and would cost thousands of dollars. So, I'm thinking. Wow! You could just grow a few of those bad boys, sell them and retire. Unfortunately, I did not catch the name of that particular palm. So, I did some research. Come to find out there are many rare and slow growing palms. One is the Canary Island Date palm. I found a smaller one on one web site for $1000. Another web site had a bunch of different palms for sale. Most of the starting prices were $300 or $400. Well, I have a 4 palms in my backyard that are getting big. If anyone wants to buy them for $300 or $400, let me know. Ha! Don't think our's are that rare. Anyway, here are the links, if you want to check it out.
http://www.horizontreeservices.com.au/gallery.html

http://www.junglemusic.net/Box%20Palms.htm

http://trees-for-sale.net/Trees/Palm-Trees

3 Month Temperature and Precipitation Outlooks
Just now getting these outlooks out to you. Looks like a warmer and drier than normal November through January on the way for the Houston area. In fact much of the southeast is supposed to be warmer than normal while the west coast and much of Alaska is supposed to be cooler than normal. There is a pocket of above normal precipitation chance for the Ohio Valley, but just to the south it looks drier than normal. That leads me to the drought situation. Eastern Texas is not in a drought again...with conditions expected to become even drier through January. See all figures at right.

New Poll
Gordy and I made the early voting by the skin of our teeth--on Friday. The polling place was busy and we actually waited in line a couple minutes. My poll on whether you will vote or not is closed. 83% said they will vote and the rest said they wouldn't. Thanks to all who participated.

My new poll is about the upcoming holiday season. Does it feel like it is coming fast? Thanks in advance for participating.

Have a safe Monday everyone.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman