Weather! A quiet December pattern

Sunny skies and warming temperatures are the story for the first 80% of the work week. Clouds and rain come back in the picture on Friday.

December 12, 2011; 3:05 PM • by Weather Dan

While the weather is quiet this week, I thought I’d take the opportunity to pass along a couple video messages.

The first comes from NOAA, who brings you a holiday greeting. Those of you that are long-time weather radio owners might recognize the voice.

The second comes from some students at Millersville University. If you’ve ever thought about things like “meteorologists are the only people that can be wrong 90 percent of the time and still get paid” or “who needs a meteorologist when I can just look out my window,” I recommend taking a few minutes to better understand exactly what our profession entails.

The James River has finally receded below flood stage, doing so Saturday afternoon. Will Weaver captured this photo of the James near its peak height at Tuckahoe Plantation in Goochland County.

High pressure centered over Chesapeake Bay is keeping conditions relatively clear over Virginia today, and will continue to do so through most of this week. Temperatures will continue to climb over the next couple days, before the warming trend comes to an end by Friday, when another cold front swings through and brings our next rain opportunity.

Monday: We’ve made it into the upper 40s this afternoon, but probably won’t get much warmer. Lows tonight will drop to near 30.

Tuesday: The thermostat cranks up a little bit, as highs climb into the low 50s. Lows also stay slight warmer, dropping only into the mid 30s.

Wedneday: Highs make it up into the mid 50s by Wednesday, as skies continue to remain clear and sunny. We’ll still remain chilly overnight, with lows in the upper 30s.

Temperatures will make a run at 60 on Thursday, before cloud cover increases in advance of the next system. It looks like we’re going to be too warm to see anything other than rain, at least based on some of the current models. I’ll leave the decision of whether or not that is a good thing up to you.

December 12, 2011 3:05 PM 2