It’s one week until Thanksgiving, but it still feels like late summer!

Upper-level winds will allow a ridge to develop over the Southeast, and this ridge is responsible for surface temperatures to climb into the upper 70s to low 80s this week.

The average high temperature is around 63 degrees, so the forecast afternoon highs are trending about 15 degrees above average -- and they are approaching record high territories!

In fact, here are the record afternoon high temperatures for the rest of this week:

• Wednesday, November 19: 80° set in 1942
• Thursday, November 20: 79° set in 1979
• Friday, November 21: 77° set in 2011
• Saturday, November 22: 77° set in 2011

Unseasonably warm temperatures will continue all through the first half of next week, and temperatures will stay warm on Thanksgiving Thursday.

However, another plunge of Arctic air will return on Black Friday, and it will continue through the following Saturday.

Whether you’re staying home for the holiday or heading out of town, it would be wise to keep a warm jacket or sweater on hand for when the Arctic blast moves through.

If you are hitting the road this holiday season, be aware that deer may also be migrating through the end of this month. Keep an eye out for deer crossing the road late in the evening or early in the mornings.

I spoke with Matt Breda of Breda Pest Management regarding the different deer seasons here in Metro Atlanta.

Fall “Rut” or Mating Season

“You are going to have what’s called the “rut” or “rutting season” which is in October, that is when they are going to be mating and reproducing,” notes Breda.

According to the University of Georgia, “The desire to breed causes deer to become more active compared to the rest of the year. Bucks move more and become less secretive, making them easier to hunt and more susceptible to being hit by motor vehicles.”

Both the University of Georgia and the Wildlife Resources Division note a “strong correlation between peak deer-vehicle collision timeframes, deer conception dates and the hourly movement rates of deer tracked by GPS.”

“Based on that information, deer-vehicle collision data provided by the Georgia Department of Transportation was used to map the timing of peak deer movement in Georgia,” states the University of Georgia.

According to data compiled by UGA and the Wildlife Resources Division, the following Metro Atlanta counties can expect the peak of the deer “rut” season to impact their commutes to occur during this time frame:

• Cobb County: November 3 - November 9
• Cherokee County: November 10 - November 16
• Coweta County: November 10 - November 16
• DeKalb County: November 3 - November 9
• Fulton County: November 10 - November November 16
• Fayette County: November 10 - November 16
• Gwinnett County: November 10 - November 16
• Hall County: November 10 - November 16
• Henry County: November 3 - November 9
• Rockdale County: November 3 - November 9
• Walton County: November 3 - November 9

Spring Foraging and Feeding Season

“In spring, the young are born, and they are looking to feed. So in the spring, you have the young, the mature mom and dad -- and they are all looking to eat,” states Matt Breda.

“They are a problem -- we’ll go and plant nice annuals and perennials, and they’ll look great, and you wake up two days later... and they’re gone. They’re eating all of them!”

“That’s how quickly deer do it!”

“So the biggest mistake DIYers make is deer repellant. It’s okay -- but it’s only going to last a couple days. Why? Because we have afternoon rain showers, and it’s just going to wash it away.”

“So the best thing you can do as a homeowner is deer netting. I know it’s a little bit of a pain to do -- you planted the pretty flowers, you want to look at them -- but if you really want to keep the deer off, you really have to use the deer netting,” advises Breda.

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