Warmer, Wetter.

After what has been a very cool start to December with temperatures so far averaging nearly 4 degrees below normal, much milder conditions are expected for the coming week. Along with the milder conditions comes a good chance of rain and possibly even some thunder.

For today, the clear, frosty, foggy start will quickly give way to increasing cloud cover by this afternoon and any sunshine will be hard to come by for at least several more days. In fact, overcast skies should be the general rule for tonight right on through Wednesday night. Increasing southerly winds will eventually bring more low level moisture back into the state and the combination of clouds and southerly winds will result in much milder temperatures. In fact, we are not expecting freezing temperatures again till along about Friday morning the way things are looking right now. The clouds will also temper the daytime warming somewhat, but we should still be at or above normal for a change with the warmest day of the week on Wednesday.

Wednesday will also be the day with the best chance of showers and perhaps even some thunder. A few isolated showers will be possible on Monday and some scattered showers will be possible on Tuesday, but Wednesday looks to be the wettest day of the week. A vigorous storm system aloft is expected to be moving out of the southern Rockies and across the state by then and will bring with it widespread showers and some embedded thunder. There are still some timing issues to be resolved, so will hang on to a slight chance of lingering showers into the morning hours of Thursday.

Cooler air will also filter in behind this system for Thursday and Friday along with some sunshine. After that, the longer range guidance goes their separate ways and there is no consistency at all regarding how the coming weekend will play out. One set of guidance is cool and very wet and another is cool and dry. There has not been a lot of internal consistency either with flip-flops almost a daily occurrence. So, given the uncertainty will put in at least a slight chance of precipitation for Sat and Sun. These issues will hopefully get resolved over the next few model cycles, but sometimes they will not agree on a solution till just before a major event. We will just have to wait and see.

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

Dick Faurot