Yesterday was pretty nice out. I was working on my shed for a bit around midday, and I was pretty comfortable with only a layered long-sleeve shirt. High temps made it into the 50s. Today we will have some more nice weather. There were a few clouds around this morning, but we’ll be partly sunny and mild for most of the day. High temps will be in the upper 50s with a few 60s inland/south.
There was a weak area of low pressure just to our southeast early this morning. It brought a few sprinkles and light showers before dawn. Now that has moved well out to sea. High pressure is edging in from the west.
We’ll have fair skies for most of the day. It will be another nice afternoon. The mild/dry air should allow for some nice drying of the ground. We’ll be dry and warm tomorrow during the day. High pressure will be overhead. High temps will rise to the upper 50s to low 60s. There will be some showers to our west, but they probably won’t arrive here until the evening. At least in the metro.
A line of showers will move in with the cold front late Friday evening. Then it will move out early Saturday morning. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds Saturday. It will be cooler with high temps near 50 degrees. A strong upper level low will roll overhead Saturday evening. It’s possible that we’ll have a few sprinkles or flurries at that time. Then we’ll be cool and dry on Sunday with highs in the upper 40s. Then we’ll be mostly cloudy on Monday (M.L.K Day). There may be some isolated showers with highs near 50.
Many folks are talking about a recent disruption of the Polar Vortex. There was a recent blast of cold air over parts of Europe and Asia. The American Midwest is also going to have a shot of cold air soon. (Though it will be far from record-breaking). However, it is still up-in-the air as to whether or not we will get a cold blast any time soon from this disruption. The North Atlantic Oscillation is a pattern of high and low pressure over the northern Atlantic Ocean. When the value for that feature goes negative, then it means the pressure different between the high and the low are lower, and this in-turn allows for colder air to drop south over the eastern U.S. So there are some signs that we will start to get some colder shots of air, but it is not a done deal. As I mentioned in a previous weather blog, we have had a mild start to January so far. Anyway, after our weekend cool down the long range GFS model doesn’t show any blasts of Arctic air for the next 10 days for us. Though it does look like Canada and the north Central U.S. will be colder. We’ll see how far south this colder air will actually get. Stay tuned for updates.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler