Saturday, December 4, 2010

Brace Yourself.... It's Going to Get Cold...Very Cold!

The clipper system has cleared the area.  In fact, as of 8 pm on Saturday night it was already in western South Carolina.  The official snowfall from this system at the Greater Rockford Airport was 6.3".  slightly lighter amounts occurred to the east of Rockford, and more snow was reported to the west .  The heaviest band of snow extended from near Dubuque across Jo Daviess, and Carroll counties where 9.4" of snow was reported at Thomson.

 Winter is officially here... Meteorological Winter that is.  What is Meteorological Winter you may ask?  It is the coldest quarter of the year in the northern hemisphere, and that runs from early December through the end of February.  Astronomical Winter starts on December 21st, which is the Winter Solstice... the shortest day, in terms of daylight, in the northern hemisphere. Take you pick on which winter definition you like the best. 

With a fresh substantial coat of snow covering the ground across northwest and north central Illinois, the temperature is free to fall with arctic high presssure stretching from central Canada across the northern  plains to the Texas panhandle.    The pressure gradient between that high pressure to the west and low pressure over the eastern states will support a brisk northerly wind across the Stateline later tonight thru Monday night.  Winds will cause wind chills to become a factor later tonight thru Monday night.  The temperature will struggle to get much above 20 degrees on Sunday, and with a northwest wind 15-20 mph with gusts to 25, it will feel like zero to 10 below on Sunday.  On Sunday night it will feel like 5 below to 15 below zero.  Actual high temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will have a tough time rising any higher than the middle teens. A moderating trend will start on Wednesday, but it will remain colder than average for the rest of the week. The average temperatures top out at 35 degrees and drop to 20 at night this time of year.   The next clipper system, dropping southeast out of Canada on Thursday and Friday will be moisture starved, and probably pass to our north.  It will still be cold, so what preciptiation falls, will probably be in the form of light snow on Thursday and Friday.  It is early to determine conditions that far out, and it is possible with a system like that, our region could see some freezing drizzle or light freezing rain mixed in with snow. More cold Canadian air will follow in behind the front next weekend.  So, as you can see... the cold weather is here to stay for a while.
By Meteorologist
Eric Nefstead

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