Wednesday, December 23, 2015

hovering near coldest... (pm.23.dec.15)>

Wednesday's stats:

Low temp: 38.7F (3.7C)
High temp: 46.0F (7.8C)
Rainfall: none

We've got more of that typical haze hanging around early tonight, with a few patches of mainly mid-level clouds as well.  There were some periods of hazy sunshine from time to time today, but also a good amount of cloudiness -- all pretty much what was expected.  We did have that slight chance of a brief light rain shower in the forecast, but as far as I'm aware, if there was any light precipitation at all, it remained further north and east in the mountains.  Our temperatures remain very close to the coldest of the season thus far.

There have been several upper-level disturbances rippling across the area during the past week or so, the latest of which has been affecting us during the past 36 hours with some extra cloudiness, while also delivering this latest dip in temperatures.  The atmosphere should trend toward greater stability tomorrow through Christmas Day, but we'll have to watch for a considerable amount of haze as an inversion layer sets up -- cold air in the surface layers overrun by some slight warming aloft.

Over the weekend, the models are showing an amazing blast of milder air in the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere.  BUT -- this time of year the pockets of colder air which have settled into the lowest layers are very hard to scour out.  That means there's going to be a big question mark surrounding just how much actual upward movement on the thermometer we get between Saturday and Monday or Tuesday.  At the same time, there will be a bit of an influx of moisture and another one of those weak disturbances in the upper-levels -- giving us concerns about cloud development, and another slight chance of some isolated light showers on Sunday.

For forecast specifics, check THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK, located on a tab at the top of the page.