A VERY Mild Stretch of Weather Ahead!

Good Morning,

After reaching the lower 40s across much of the Tri-State Area on Saturday, an impulse of energy moved swiftly across the region Saturday night and early yesterday morning... This was responsible for a snow shower and flurries during the wee hours of yesterday morning, which lasted until about 7 a.m. in some areas north and east of the City... And while the snow didn't amount to much, Islip on central Long Island recorded something measurable: a tenth of an inch...

Today, we're going to encounter a gusty breeze for a while early as the latest front dropping out of eastern Canada and upstate New York presses southward... This front, having little or no moisture to work with, will not produce any rain or snowfall, and it will only bring a subtle reduction in our temperatures this afternoon (when compared with yesterday's actual highs)... The 'underlying

themes' for the upcoming week will feature dry conditions much of the time, and there will be a gradual warm up taking place after today... This should put most places in the upper 40s tomorrow, and within a couple of degrees of 50 on Wednesday... A ridge of high pressure that will be building over the eastern third of the nation is going to bring some unusually mild weather for January... In addition to that, we believe that our next best chance for getting precipitation will be on Friday... For the next couple of days, the only truly 'active weather' occurring in the U.S. will be in the Pacific Northwest, and also along the Gulf Coast... As a strong impulse of energy aloft reaches central and southern Texas tonight and tomorrow, an area of rain with strong thunderstorms will be blossoming over the Lone Star State... Therefore, we could be talking about some rather volatile weather down there by tomorrow night or early Wednesday morning, which is rare (even for them) at this time of year...

The resultant wave of low pressure coming out of the southern Tier of states later this week will be tracking northeastward into the Great Lakes on Thursday night and Friday... Therefore, what we refer to as a 'cutter', or a low pressure system with a track which "cuts" up to the west of the Appalachians, will most likely bring some rain to the I-95 corridor late this week... While we can't rule some rain out entirely on Thursday night, the odds do seem to favor that it is even more likely on Friday at this time... Once that 'cutter' heads into east central Canada on Friday night, Saturday looks like it may be the mildest day of the month so far, with most temperatures climbing well into the 50s (or, approximately twenty degrees above the seasonal averages)... The domestic models are showing no signs of anything that even resembles an arctic chill in the East for about ten or eleven days... So, we don't have much good news for the "snow lovers" out there as we eventually head into the third week of January... Have a good day!!!