Locations With a White Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

In case you were wondering, the locations with a White Christmas are shown in the map on the right. A bit unusual to say the least with the snow in the Southern Rockies and Panhandles but no snow in the Northern Plains. The slow movement of the system that has produced all the snow across far W TX and New Mexico also kept the clouds away from our side of the state. The result was a gorgeous Christmas Day which is quite a contrast to the last two Christmas Days. Last Christmas the temperature barely got above freezing and although it was not a White Christmas we did have some brief snow flurries. The year before that we had the Christmas Eve blizzard and were still digging out on Christmas Day.

Today's sunny skies are giving way to increasing cloud cover as we go through the overnight hours. The slow moving storm system aloft that has been such a trouble maker out west will finally get ejected eastward and will be moving across the state on Monday. That system will bring the clouds and a chance of light rain by later tonight, through the day Monday, ending Monday night. As the light rain develops temperatures are expected to level off and should stay just above the freezing mark by the time any moisture makes it to the surface. It will be close, but at this time no travel problems are anticipated for the early morning hours. What rain does make it to the surface will be light and total amounts should be no more than one tenth of an inch. The exception will be further east, particularly into Arkansas where heavier rains are likely.

The clouds and occasional light rain will also keep temperatures on the cool side with daytime highs confined to the 40s for Monday. After that, we should see a warming trend with much above normal temperatures anticipated for the rest of the week along with sunny skies and southerly winds.

The wind flow aloft will be transitioning into a more zonal pattern this week which is typically a mild, dry pattern for us. There will be some weak disturbances embedded in the fast westerly flow aloft, but the timing and intensity of those systems is extremely difficult beyond a day or two in advance. Thus, although some weak fronts will likely be affecting us during the coming week, they should not amount to much more than a wind shift and the timing of those is difficult at best. As a result, I have kept temperatures quite mild going into the New Year. This pattern is usually not very stable and will eventually break down, but for now it looks like we are in for a stretch of mild, mostly dry weather after Monday.

As always, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot