Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! The first map on the right shows the observed snow cover across the lower 48 as of first thing this morning, so those are the locations that could consider themselves as having a White Christmas. Since this has been a relatively quiet Christmas Day across the country, not much in the way of additional snowfall has been added to those values. There has been some additional snow in the general vicinity of the Great Lakes and that is about the extent of it.

For those who may be traveling over the next few days, this generally quiet weather pattern will continue; particularly in our state. Clear skies and light winds will result in a cold night tonight, but as a surface high pressure ridge slides on east of us and our winds return to a southerly direction, temperatures will be on the up-swing. We will also have lots of sunshine as those persistent stratus clouds of the last few days have finally moved out and are not expected to return anytime soon. Having said that, there is a chance for some patchy freezing fog tonight into the early morning hours, but that will be burning off quickly.

Morning lows tonight will be dropping into the teens and low 20s but with lots of sunshine and light southerly winds, our daytime highs should be well into the 40s. Friday will likely see afternoon highs reaching the lower 50s and we should be well into the 50s on Saturday.

Then, the bottom drops out again as a strong cold front along with gusty northerly winds will hold temperatures in the 30s during the day Sunday. Mostly cloudy skies and possibly some snow flurries may also occur, but this does not look to be a wet system at all. In fact, the 7 day QPF map on the right shows we should be pretty much high and dry through that period.

Not only that, but there is really not much in the way of active weather coming our way anytime soon. After the cool-down for Sunday and Monday, a return to southerly winds will warm things back up for New Year's Eve. Another weak boundary on New Year's Day does not appear overly strong at this time and New Year's Day looks to be seasonal with respect to temperatures. Colder air should be filtering in later in the week, but at this point the longer range guidance suggests we will miss any major storms as we head into the New Year.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot