12/27/10: Warmer Temperatures Return

Notes:

- The 5-Day Forecast was updated for the area except for Long Island/S CT.
- The poll for yesterday's storm ended on Friday night, with the results posted below:

7 votes - Storm well to south, dry and cold
2 votes - Storm clips NYC with light snow
18 votes - Intensifies near coast, heavy snow
1 vote - Too far north, rain/mix

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The snow from the blizzard has ended this morning, but the strong winds from the storm continued to affect the area through the day, with widespread blowing snow observed. The skies have cleared with temperatures tonight dropping to some of the coldest this winter, but over the next week a warming trend will start that will lead to the warmest temperatures in the area since early December.


Tomorrow's Outlook:

Tomorrow will be a partly sunny day across the area with a breezy west to WNW wind expected. Winds will not be as strong as today, however gusts up to 40 mph are still possible near the coast. With the cold temperatures and the breezy conditions, wind chills will be in the single digits across most of the area in the morning, with sub-zero wind chills even possible northwest of NYC.

Temperatures will start to warm up a little as the cold air mass weakens, in the lower to mid 30s across most of the area, though a few upper 20s are possible in the higher elevations inland with some mid 30s in the immediate NYC area.


Wednesday - Friday: Warming Trend

By Wednesday, a storm will start to take shape in the Rockies, bringing behind it a much colder air mass into the western United States. Usually, a trough in the west coast means a ridge in the East Coast, and this case will be no different. By Thursday, 850 mb temperatures will warm up above 0c, the first time since December 13, but with a high pressure over the area, temperatures will not warm up as much as areas further west as some cold air gets trapped over the area. High temperatures will only be in the mid to upper 30s on Thursday, and while on Friday, temperatures will be slightly warmer, in the mid 30s to lower 40s, they will be significantly warmer to the west of the area, peaking in the 50s in Illinois.

New Year's Eve should be partly cloudy across the area with no precipitation expected. Low temperatures overnight will be much warmer than previous nights, in the mid to upper 20s inland, and in the upper 20s to lower 30s in the immediate NYC area.


New Year's Day And Beyond

With a storm tracking through the Midwest, bringing a snowstorm to those areas on New Year's eve, and the high pressure exiting to the east, temperatures will warm up even more, but will still be cold compared to areas further west, with high temperatures only in the upper 30s to mid 40s across the area. Further west, meanwhile, high temperatures will be in the lower 50s as far as West Virginia and possibly SW PA, and may even reach the 60-degree mark in southern Virginia.

On Saturday night into Sunday, the storm's cold front will approach, potentially bringing steadily warming temperatures overnight potentially peaking well into the 40s by Sunday morning, with a round of rain late Saturday night through Sunday. Behind this cold front, a much colder air mass will enter the region, with high temperatures potentially dropping into the upper 20s to mid 30s again for early next week, however this cold will not be as strong or as sustained as the cold we saw earlier this month.