Unusually Cold December

Just one day this month has seen temperatures above-normal, a rarity in any month, but especially so in this early stage of what has been widely predicted to be a relatively mild winter.  Of course, winter’s really just begun, so the postmortem on this season is far from being written.

Let’s talk about the cold. A huge and persistent trough, or plunge southward in the jet stream has delivered a relentless stream of arctic air masses over the Midwest and East for the past several weeks.  Your home heating bills will validate the assertion that this has not been a typical blast of cold air.  It has been repeatedly replaced, and more will carry us through the final days of December.

We’ve seen snow as well within this pattern, with more expected Christmas weekend.

However, this polar-like chill doesn’t necessarily foretell a cold January or February. In fact, we often see flips of sorts in these kind of patterns, that can lead to remarkable reversals in the weather. I would not be surprised to see some a change ahead. It probably won’t happen within the next couple of weeks (through first week of January), but after that we’ll see.

by Jim Duncan

Advertisement