Warm Spell Faded, Cold Air Snapped Back

A winter snapback! Nope, i'm not talking hats here. It was an astonishing 6 day run with high temperatures 40° and above. This was a more milder open to the weekend since early December. Though not in record setting territory, temperatures were nearly 30° above normal. Weekend highs; Friday 57, Saturday 64, Sunday 56. That high of 56° Sunday was achieved around midnight. A colder weather invaded and is taking over the next few days.
The weekend will not only be remembered for the mild temps but for rainfall as well. We picked up a 3 day total surpassing 3". The last 5 days we've recorded measurable precipitation. Wednesday 0.10", Thursday 0.09", Friday 1.09", Saturday 1.28", and Sunday 1.27". This totals up to 3.83". This brings the months tally up to 3.85". This is not only more than half of our months normal precipitation, but it is 1.19" above our normal monthly precipitation amount for the entire month. By the way, we did set a record for most rainfall in one day on Saturday. The new record for Saturday, January 12th of 1.28" beats the old record of 1.19" set back in 1930. This record was 83 years old.

METEOROLOGICAL WINTER (December 1st-Current)
We are now half way through the month, actually the season. Despite a run at very cold temperatures late December, Early January, this is actually somewhat of a mild winter. 33 of the 45 days this winter have been above normal, 2 days normal, and 10 days below normal. This equates to 73.3% above normal, 22.3% below normal, and 4.4% normal. The highest high temperature so far this season was 69° on December 3rd (which was a record high by the way). The lowest high temperature was 22° on January 2nd. The lowest low so far was 5° also on January 2nd. The highest low temperature was 58° on December 3rd.
I've scrunched the numbers, and the avg temp (combination of high and low) for December 1st-January 13th is suppose to be 29.8°. The actual avg temperature for this period is 35.2°. This means since December 1st, we are averaging 5.4° per day above normal. Actually, December ended with a average temp nearly 7° above normal. It went down as the 16th warmest December on record.
Due to strong winter storms that dumped 14.8" of snowfall in late December in Indianapolis, this helped contributed to a 77.1% snow coverage in the midwest to open the 2013 New Years Day. The national snow coverage was 66.6%. But the mild spell over the last week (end) put a decline in the coverage. Today, the coverage stands at 45.8% nationwide, and a pathetic 22.5% here in the midwest region. We finished nearly 8" above normal last month but currently running 3.2" below normal this month. This means, since December 1st (til January 13th) , we actually are only 4.7" above normal in snowfall. By the way, December 2012 was the 7th most snowiest December on record.

This week we'll be in a quiet weather pattern after an active past 5 days. We'll see plenty of sunshine for a big part of the work week mixed with a few passing clouds. Really nothing going on until late weekend but there could be a small chance for some flurries on Thursday. More Details in the coming days. Temperatures will be fairly normal this week. Could see a small warm up into the 40s but this will not be as potent as last weekend. Temps are forecasted to push the mid to possibly upper 40s on Saturday.

UPCOMING...
Some of the latest European & GFS operational & ensemble models runs suggests that a polar front will move through our area that could drive temperatures to its lowest of the season. Perhaps, more single digits lows and teen high temperatures. Still plenty of room up for debate on this one so its not all set in stone. As for winter storms, nothing really pops out. In fact a big area of high pressure may be position overhead of us, this virtually eliminates any possibilities of winter storms during this time period. Will continue to monitor and update in the coming days.

Today's Weather Observations
Todays High: 23 | Average High: 35 | Departure: -12° Below Normal
Todays Low: 16 | Average Low: 20 | Departure: -4° Below Normal
Todays Avg: 20 | Avg Daily Temp: 28 | Departure: -8° Below Normal

We picked up only a trace of (winter) precipitation and no snowfall. We experienced a mixture of sunshine and clouds today. Average Sky Cover was 70%.


***7 Day Outlook***

JAN. 15	JAN. 16	JAN. 17	JAN. 18	JAN. 19	JAN. 20	JAN. 21
TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
PARTLY SUNNY	PARTLY SUNNY	PARTLY SUNNY	PARTLY SUNNY	PARTLY SUNNY	CLOUDY FALLING	PARTLY CLOUDY
					TEMPS	COLDER
32	37	34	40	44	39↓	25
22	27	21	31	39	16	11