A strong cold front is currently in eastern Pennsylvania, moving east. When it passes, temperatures will drop around 25 degrees with gusty, cold winds. Given the date, it's a pretty sure bet this is the end of continuous mild weather for some time.

Summer and fall turned out to be warm, but the real headline of this year is how late everything was. A bitterly cold winter brought sea surface temperatures off New England to unusually low levels. This, in turn, caused a relentless series of backdoor cold fronts to delay spring. In late May, leaves had not even appeared on the trees on Cape Cod.

The trees in Central Park finally reflect the peak of fall foliage. But it would be wrong to characterize the weather this year as simply warm. Instead, it would be better described as "late."

Hopefully this means a nice, juicy snowstorm in late February or early March.