Published: September 11, 2008 08:22 am         

Weather Watch

By MARK HANOK

Even though it may appear that we’ll get cloudy skies and showers for most of the weekend, when Hurricane Ike slams into the Texas coast and moves northwestward and brings torrential rains and flooding to sections of eastern and central Texas, this will signal a continuation of sunny or partly sunny skies in Otsego County, with most or all of the rainfall occurring at night or early in the morning. Temperatures will be above normal through the weekend, and when it will feel cool when we get back to normal temperatures next week.

On Friday a low pressure trough will move slowly eastward to the Ohio Valley, blocked by a ridge of high pressure over New England. Skies will be partly sunny in the Cooperstown area, with a gradual increase in humidity and highs in the low 70’s. A warm front associated with the low, will stay to the west and south of our region, and skies will be partly sunny in Otsego County with highs in the mid-70’s and moderate humidity.

After a few showers on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, a southwesterly flow of warm, humid air will take over on Sunday; skies will be partly sunny with highs from 75 to 80 degrees.

As a cold front approaches from the northwest, we’ll get occasional showers Sunday night and early Monday, then intervals of clouds and sunshine on Monday afternoon; highs from 73 to 78 degrees. As low pressure moves to northern New England, a northwesterly flow will bring cooler, drier air on Tuesday and Wednesday, with partly sunny skies and highs in the upper 60’s.

Mark Hanok is an Otsego based meteorologist. You can visit him on the World Wide Web at http://members. aol.com/weathergazette.