MONDAY WEATHER BRIEFING
GOOD MONDAY MORNING!
What a weekend! Sunday's high of 59 was just 2 shy of the record of 61, set in 2002. January 2016 will go into the record books as a pretty typical one temperature-wise. The month finished about a third of a degree above average. All the numbers:
Notice, the biggest one-day snow was a paltry 2.6" on the 12th. The coldest temperature was 5 degrees, reached 3 times. Overall a pretty tame month....as expected. Our winter forecast called for a warm December, an average January and a somewhat colder than average February. Let's see if we will make it 3 for 3 this month.
TODAY
A cold front crossed the Valley last night and brought some light rain.
In the wake of that front, we expect temperatures to barely move today with variable clouds. It should be brighter later in the day as compared to now.
MIDWEEK STORM
A strong, springlike storm will cross the middle of the country over the next couple of days. It will drop a lot of snow on the Heartland:
But we will be on the warm side. So temperatures will rebound nicely Tuesday with a mix of sun and clouds. Highs can be near 50 or so south of the warm front.
A severe weather outbreak is likely across the Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys.
It's possible that we hear thunder in eastern OH and western PA early Wednesday morning but we are not expecting severe weather.
Temperatures will fall during the daylight hours Wednesday and this mild pattern will come to an end.
BACK TO NORMAL
The pattern at the end of the week and the weekend will feature more "typical" early February weather. There might be flurries Thursday.
No significant weather is expected through Super Bowl Sunday.
LONG RANGE
After a stretch of "average" days, we expect some of the coldest weather of the season so far during the latter half of NEXT week. The "heart" of the cold may be centered to our west but I still would anticipate a few days with highs in the double digits below average.
Will it last?? I does not look likely right now. That cold shot should push out after a few days. Winter has a hard time "locking in" in strong El Ninos and this year is no exception.Remember last February?
This February will be NOTHING like that.
WEATHER FOR WEATHER GEEKS:
The Valley's most detailed weather forecast will go into more detail on the midweek storm, including the active weather on the cold and warm sides. Plus: I'll talk more about that mid-month cold snap. Weather For Weather Geeks will be on ericwfmj.com and wfmj.com/weather as well as the WFMJ app by 8:00pm.