National Weather Forecast

A cold front continues to track south and east on Friday, leading to some scattered showers and storms in New England, southern Florida, and along the Texas Coast. Some of this rain in New England will be on the heavy side. A low near the western Great Lakes will bring rain and snow chances to the upper Midwest and Great Lakes. Meanwhile, a cut-off low will bring some parts of southern California storms.

The highest rainfall amounts through Saturday will be in New England, where totals could easily top 3-4”. Flood Watches are in place across these areas.

Meanwhile, as we continue to track the changing of the seasons, a couple of inches of snow will be possible in the upper Midwest mainly through Friday. Due to the northwesterly wind flow, some areas south and east of the larger lakes across the region could see higher totals due to some lake enhancement.

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Hard-hit citrus industry will mean higher prices for consumers

More from CBS Miami: “Consumers in Florida and across the nation should expect the price of Florida orange and grapefruit (fruit, juice, etc.) to increase as a direct response to the ravages of Hurricane Ian. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the initial citrus crop forecast for the 2022-23 season. But that survey was taken before the hurricane. The forecast includes a decrease in Florida orange, grapefruit and specialty crop (mostly tangerines and tangelos) production. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Florida all orange forecast, at 28.0 million boxes (1.26 million tons), was down 32 percent from last season’s final utilization.

Heating costs forecast to soar this winter

More from CNN: “No matter how you heat your home, the cost of that heat is likely to soar, according to a forecast Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration. Based on current estimates for fuel prices if, as forecast, there’s a slightly colder winter ahead, the EIA estimates that heating a home with natural gas heating costs will rise about $200 on average, or 28% to $931 for the winter. Still, that’s not as bad as heating oil costs, which are forecast to jump $1,200, or 27% to $2,354. Electric heating costs could rise $123, or 10%, to $1,359, while propane heating costs are expected to rise $80, or 5%, to $1,688.

NYC storm resiliency ‘far from complete,’ quarter of post-Sandy federal funds unspent: Comptroller

More from the Gothamist: “After Hurricane Sandy hit New York City with an estimated $19 billion in damages, the federal government chipped in $15 billion in aid. A decade later, New York City has spent just 73% of that money, according to a new report from the city comptroller’s office released on Thursday. The report described progress on recovery and resiliency efforts as “slow” and “far from complete” — but its findings provide recommendations for accelerating preparedness for future storms. “Climate change is moving a lot faster than we are, and I mean that in a double sense,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “We are not moving quickly enough to get ready for the next Sandy-like storm, but also in these 10 years, the aperture of what climate risk looks like has opened so much wider.”

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– D.J. Kayser