Quiet Week Continues Cold Air Longevity Issues In Play
Good morning everyone. While it’s a quiet week for you, it’s rarely a quiet week for us as we’re always looking ahead for the next feature in play. That feature will be cold air looking to invade mid to late week next week. It’s looking rock solid as far as its arrival, but how long it last remains a question with our pattern changing somewhat towards a semi-zonal flow.
A zonal flow is a straight west to east flow basically. It won’t be perfect in the sense, as a true zonal flow has fairly weak. quick-moving systems and less contrast in temp changes; but we’re almost there, with quick moving systems that’ll be somewhat vigorous, and shallow/fast cold shots.
SATELLITE
For today, look for mid-level clouds and a few patches of blue mixed in. Highs near 40 and chilly. Our average highs are around 47 this time of December, so we’ve been off the mark for some time right now.
We’ll have more sun tomorrow, but it won’t do much with highs in the upper 30’s to low 40’s.
REGIONAL RADAR
Upper 30’s to low 40’s will continue on Friday, but a reinforcing shot of cold air may touch off a few sprinkles, flurries, or pellets of sleet. It will not be a big deal and if anything happens at all, the action will be light, widely scattered, and quick. Expect temps to drop into the 20’s overnight Friday, then we don’t recover much for Saturday.
Saturday is looking sunny, breezy, and cold. Expect highs getting only into the low to mid 30’s. The good news is, it doesn’t last long due to an approaching system. We’ll quickly bounce back to average, with morning sun, increasing clouds late Sunday; highs in the mid to upper 40’s.
LOCAL RADAR NEW YORK CITY
The jury is still out on the long range in terms of how much cold air do we get, and how long it sticks around. A semi-zonal flow developing will keep systems moving fast and close behind one another, possibly modifying any cold air fairly quickly.
As of now, look for a seasonably mild day on Monday with the chance of some afternoon rain. Low to mid 50’s wouldn’t be out of the question, but we could see even warmer temps on Tuesday depending on the timing and precip associated with our cold front.
We’ll hold off on Wednesday for now, but cold air is most likely locked in on next Wednesday night/Thursday. Highs in the 20’s and 30’s are likely, and we could see some teens dotting the area at night.
With another system not far behind and taking the “warm” route (north and west), the cold air may already be gone or modified by Friday or Saturday. Behind that system, more cold air is possible, but it could fade away quickly as well.
LOCAL RADAR PHILADELPHIA
MANY THANKS TO TROPICAL TIDBITS FOR THE USE OF MAPS
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