A warming trend is expected through the Christmas Weekend.

THE FORECAST:

Today and Tonight: You might expect a few light showers during the morning hours as a weak cold front slides through the region. By afternoon, clouds will linger with just a few breaks of sunshine and high temperatures in the mid 60s. Winds will shift northerly, but remain light at about 5mph. Overnight will be partly cloudy with a low near 50 degrees.    

Up Next: Status quo is maintained for Friday although a little more sun can be expected. A warm front will then lift through the region and southerly winds will bring much milder air for the holiday weekend. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will have high temperatures in the mid to upper 70s with partly sunny skies. The next cold front is projected for Monday with some showers and thunderstorms. Don’t look for a big cool down on the other side of that one though. In fact, no major cool snaps are foreseen for the remainder of the year.

THE SCIENCE: A weak cold front associated with a broad trough across the northern United States will “leak” into the area today. It has significantly weakened and is becoming detached from the trough. There is not enough moisture in place for any kind of widespread shower development, however, frontal lift will be enough to trigger a few pockets of light rain and/or drizzle early. The trailing air mass will do nothing more than keep Thursday and Friday temperatures steady compared to Wednesday, and thus near normal for the time of year. The Christmas Weekend is setting be much warmer than average for the second consecutive year. In the upper levels, a ridge over the Gulf of Mexico will move eastward coinciding with a deepening trough in the Upper Midwest to produce deep southwesterly flow and therefore warmer and more moist air. Omega will remain weak and in the absence of any upper disturbances in the flow, little precipitation is expected, rather just some patches of clouds. Both days, highs will be almost 15 degrees above average, in the mid to upper 70s. Rain chances will increase into Monday as a trough moving northeast across the Plains States pushes another weak front in our direction. It appears this front will wash out near the region, meaning showers and clouds may linger a few days into next week while temperatures only cool slightly, remaining above average.

--Josh