First Day of Winter!

Today is technically the beginning of the Winter season, but officially Winter does not arrive till 11:30 tonight. That marks the instant that the variations in the earth's orbit around the sun place the sun directly overhead at its southern most location. In other words, this is technically when we receive the least amount of sunlight. From this point on, our days will gradually be getting longer until we reach the summer solstice when the process repeats itself all over again.

So, Thursday will be the first full day of winter, and right on cue another cold front will be arriving during the day. Southerly winds overnight and a few more clouds by morning should keep us above freezing to start the day, but gusty northerly winds will be moving back in by afternoon. This next cold front will hold daytime temperatures in the 40s so it will be much like today in that respect. But, the cloudy afternoon skies and brisk northerly winds will certainly make it feel much cooler. Along with the clouds comes a remote chance of snow for Thursday night and into the morning hours of Friday. Most of the energy and most of the available moisture will be well to our west where there will be better chances of snow accumulating on the ground. For this side of the state, flurries will be possible but they are not expected to produce any accumulation and no travel hazards.

It will be colder on Friday with daytime highs only in the lower 40s, but our skies should also be clearing by afternoon. That should set the stage for a pretty nice Christmas weekend, particularly in view of how the last several have been. Two years ago we had the Christmas Eve blizzard, and last year the temperature barely got above freezing during the day. This time around we are expecting lots of sunshine and after a cold morning start with temperatures in the 20s, we should moderate to around 50 during the afternoon which is a bit above normal. That obviously precludes any threat of a white Christmas this year.

Speaking of which, the map on the right shows the areas around the country that have snow on the ground as of first thing this morning. So, obviously those locations have at least a chance for a white Christmas this year. The current pattern is not very supportive of any additional, massive snowstorms around the country between now and then either. In fact, the pattern going into next week will be more zonal which should be supportive of above normal temperatures for us as we head into the last week of the year.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot