Well it's certainly not going to feel like December weather this weekend. Temperatures will be running much above average for this time of year. And what exactly is an average December? Let's take a look...
As you might expect, temperatures get colder as we head through December. Average highs in the upper 50s at the beginning of the month, fall to the low 50s by month's end. Average lows also drop from the upper 30s on the 1st to freezing by the 31st. It can still be warm in December with a record high of 81, but it can be brutally cold as well with a record low of -3!
December is our wettest month of the year, averaging nearly 6" of rain. The wettest December is also our wettest month ever...more than 18" of rain falling in 1990.
We do get some snow in December also...an average of only .3", but December does hold the record for most snow ever in a month...December of 1963 saw 21.4"!
This weekend will be feeling more like late October than early December. Here are forecast temperatures from WAFF 48 Pinpoint Predictor tomorrow afternoon.
Sunday and Monday are looking just a little bit warmer with widespread lower 70s in the forecast!
So just where is all the cold air? Well, it's all locked up into Canada right now. These are the current temperatures in the Great White North as of 9am Friday.
The jet stream, indicated by the arrows above, generally marks the dividing line between cold air to the north and warm air to the south. Right now the jet is running pretty much from west to east along the US/Canada border. It doesn't look like this pattern changes much through the first week of December. By mid-month however, there are indications that the jet will buckle and that could send this cold air southward. Stayed tuned for perhaps a cold second half of the month!
Jeff Castle
WAFF 48 Storm Team
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