Until Monday, we are still running our snow contest, but I couldn't let the day go without wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, and many more to come. This day has special meaning for many of us. I can remember one Thanksgiving which was especially painful, but it had a happy ending - eventually.

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During my teaching days, I would open up a snow pool with my students...just for fun....to guess when the first inch of snow would fall at our college. Twenty-five cents bought you a day, and if you hit it right, winner took all. Of course, all kinds of elaborate rules had to be set up. I never tossed in my guess...I was the scorekeeper. I allowed 4 guesses for one day. Then, there were restrictions on exactly where and what time the snow was measured. Was it enough that it began before midnight, but didn't reach the inch until after? Which day counted? The guess closest to the snow day without exceeding the date would win. There were plenty of protests but it was in good fun, and it lasted for 27 years until I retired from teaching. Want to play? Here's how

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I don't know about you, but I feel left out. For weeks, we have been watching a handful of states get all the attention during this election. We still vote on Tuesday. I hope our vote still counts. You wouldn't know it by watching Wolf Blitzer. But, politics aside, we do live in a battleground state. Connecticut is among a few states where just about anything the weather has to offer will occur. Few places can claim our variety of weather - and let's be proud, even if Joe the Plumber lives someplace else.

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It happened again. The Commissioner of baseball was prepared to wait until Thanksgiving to finish the rain-delayed World Series in Philadelphia - but many thought it was over Monday night after the fifth inning. Somehow three different weather services were caught up in the confusion. The rain wasn't thought to be a serious problem, until it started falling around the third inning. Monday brought cold winds, and even snow to the suburbs of Philadelphia. It would have been a good day to pack it in from the start.....but the collective weather wisdom was that all could go forward. Forecasting for sporting events has its hazards - but forecasters keep at it, and today, I noticed the World Series of long range forecasts has been circulating - a three-month version which carries us through most of the winter. Any guesses?

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Was it Mark Twain or his friend Charles Warner who said, "Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it?" In any case, the same can be said about the stock market these days. There are a lot of experts, but nobody really knows which way the wind is blowing. The weather seems easier to predict than the stock market. Meteorologists don't have to deal with the human element - or maybe they do in terms of global warming. So, predicting the weather, especially long range forecasting, could be as precarious as predicting stocks. Yet, this is the time of year when people want to know about the prospects for the coming winter. I always give it try.

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Now, I am sure that there is no reason for a relationship between who wins the presidential election in November and the type of winter that follows, but statistics can demonstrate just about anything and everything. Here is something you probably haven't give much thought to, and for good reason: statistics imply that your choice for president could have something to do with the nature of winter which follows.

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Tropical Storm Hanna is rapidly turning northward along the Southeast coast with 65 mph winds and torrential downpours. This is not the biggest storm we have seen over the years, but it will be close to a direct hit, and a Tropical Storm Watch has been issued as far north as the Connecticut shoreline. Also a flood watch has been posted. Here is what you can expect:

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From the very beginning of June, we have had almost a daily threat of showers, but now, the pattern is breaking....and it all is tied to that North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO). Up until today, for over a month, the pattern has featured higher pressure over Greenland, and lower pressure over the Atlantic.....the NAO has been in a negative phase, and when that happens, our weather is miserable. In fact, prolonged spells of that negative NAO can lead to ice age patterns...a strongly negative NAO was even partially responsible for the writing of "Frankenstein!" The pattern is monstrous.

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