A look back at November and a look to what's ahead

Meteorological Winter begins today and Mother Nature will be right on cue with temperatures.  Highs this afternoon will be nearly 20° below our monthly average of 39°, but this looks to be coldest day out of the next seven.

As we flip the page on the calendar to December, let's look back at November.  It was a cold month.  Monthly average temperatures were 7 degrees below average and precipitation was almost an inch below average.  While we missed out on some of the rainfall, we did receive 3.5" of snow, which was nearly 2" above the monthly average of 1.8".   As it's been discussed in previous posts, December looks to be a month potentially of change.  For the first couple weeks, it appears as if we'll break out of the cold pattern and more into a fast flowing jet stream pattern.  This means temperatures will moderate back near average, if not slightly above.  But, we have to look at this in perspective.  Our average high for the 1st of December is 39°.  By the end of the month, it's 30°.  So even as we go above the average, it's still going to be cold.  It just may not feel as cold since the chill is something we've come to expect as we get closer to winter.