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Frankly Speaking: Short Lived Cold Air (12/15)

Posted at 12:07 PM, Dec 15, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-15 12:07:01-05

A fairly nice Tuesday morning, but it started off a bit drizzly in some areas.  With the cold front that moved through yesterday, you’d expect temps to be much colder than yesterday’s start, and you’d be right.

DMA_24HrTempChange

With nearly a 20 degree difference in many locations this morning, temps have reflected the passage of the cold front.  But here’s the thing, even with a 20 degree slide, we’re still a little over 5 degrees above the normal high for the day!  It seems like something I’ve repeated often, but that’s just how impressive it is for this time of year.

Midwest_Temps2

To put that in perspective, I checked out some desert temperatures this morning.  There were many freeze watches in these areas this morning, which is not uncommon, but our temperature at the airport this morning was a couple of degrees warmer than Sky Harbor in Phoenix!  Quite the testament how warm our mornings have been in comparison to the normal low 20s we usually start with this time of year.

RPM 1 (6)

Now that we’ve tackled this morning, let’s talk about the next 36 hours.  As our next system arrives late tomorrow, it brings a slight chance of rain to finish the day.

Midwest_Temps

With temperatures still warm to our south, that system will drive up warm air in advance, bringing our temperatures up near 50 again tomorrow!

WARM DECEMBER (3)

That works out, because as of yesterday, our average highs are nearly 50 degrees.

RPM 4 (6)

As the flow becomes out of the NW, well generate some lake effect snow showers late Thursday into early Saturday.

Panel4A (1)

Totals look less than impressive, with perhaps an inch in the grassy surfaces.  Ground remains too warm, so your hope for a white Christmas is low, even if we got 6 inches!  Temperatures will remain in the mid 40s for Christmas week as we warm up very quickly by the beginning of next week.  Have a great next several days.  I’ll be back to celebrate my favorite holiday: Festivus.

festivus

-Garry