Who remembers The Endless Summer? The movie...  Surfer dudes wandering the world searching for the perfect wave? Well, that's what we're having - the Endless Summer of 2007. Last night's low temperature at BWI was 66 degrees. That's two degrees warmer than the normal HIGH for this date. And it's the normal low for most of July - the hottest weeks of summer!

I'm looking at the temperature data for October at BWI, and I see only one day - Oct. 14 - that averaged below the long-term average for the date (by one degree). Only two hit the average smack-on. We've had 12 days in October that beat the average temperature for the date - by double digits!

With a little more than a week to go in the month, the airport is averaging 66.5 degrees - that's 9.4 degrees above the 30-year average. And if it holds, it would make this the warmest October on record for Baltimore. Here is the competition:

2007:  66.5 degrees (through Oct. 22)

1941:  65.1 degrees

1947:  64.8 degrees

1949:  64.2 degrees

1881:  63.5 degrees

1931:  63.4 degrees

But the average for the month is not going to stay that high. There's a cold front poised to blow through today and tonight, bringing a good chance for some showers. It's not drought relief, just a quarter-inch or so. That's not even enough to bring the month's total at BWI to an inch.

But the front will cut daytime high temperatures back to the 60s for the balance of the week, but still hanging just above the normals for this time of year. More showers are possible for the weekend. At this point in the game, we should be happy to get moisture from the air, even on weekends.

The problem, according to the folks I spoke to yesterday for today's story on the drought, is that the soil is very dry, and any showers will quickly be absorbed by the dirt and the plant life, which (thanks to the warm temperatures) is still using water. Very little will make it into the streams, reservoirs and the groundwater. 

Wendy McPherson, the hydrologist in the Baltimore office of the USGS, told me, "I would estimate we need 5 or 6 inches of rainfall a month to get us out of this."  Three to four inches a month is normal. We haven't even had an inch - total - since Sept. 1. 

What farmers are looking for is some sustained rainfall. Buddy Hance, a Calvert County farmer and a deputy secretary of agriculture, said what he needs is "two or three days of steady, soaking rain ... to soften the soil. Two to three days would be wonderful."

In this Endless Summer of 2007. we're still searching for the Perfect Rain.