10:00 PM: Heavy Rain, Thunderstorms, 60+ Degrees For Late December
The official start of winter is only hours away, yet the scenario the area is currently seeing can almost be described as summer-like. Although temperatures are nowhere near as warm as they would be in the summer, temperatures are currently in the lower 60s in the immediate NYC area. Although my brief update from Monday did expect this rise in temperatures, tonight's temperatures were not expected to pass 60 degrees, and temperatures will likely continue to slightly rise over the next few hours, and might even get close to 65 degrees in the immediate NYC area.In addition to the unusually mild temperatures, an approaching cold front is bringing yet another scenario very unusual for late December: a squall line of thunderstorms. Although this is not producing any severe weather, heavy thunderstorms with brief downpours are intensifying and moving east. This line is currently located near West Passaic in NJ and eastern Orange county in NY, and will reach the immediate NYC area towards 10:15 to 10:30 PM, and Long Island and southern Connecticut towards 11 PM. This line will be capable of producing heavy rain and gusty winds, with temperatures then likely to drop behind this line.
A full length text discussion will be posted later tonight, discussing the heavy rain for Thursday night and the forecast for Christmas weekend.
It was odd the way the temperatures in central PA "lagged behind" on Wednesday. It was still in the mid-40s at 4:00 PM in much of southern PA and northwest MD even at low elevations with almost no wind and absurdly dense fog while it was in the upper 50s in both Eastern and Western PA with SW winds at the same time. (By 8:00 PM it had risen into the mid-50s in northwest MD) Weird...
ReplyDeleteAlthough temperatures across the region went up in the evening as warmer air just ahead of the cold front moved east, the temperatures towards the surface were colder in central Pennsylvania as typically happens with situations like that of yesterday. Temperatures in some cases warm up faster over the Ohio Valley and the I-95 corridor than in central Pennsylvania, which is also evident in some winter storms as CAD (Cold Air Damming) scenarios take place, where the eastern Ohio Valley and I-95 see rain while central Pennsylvania sees frozen precipitation.
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