Winter officially began this evening (6:03pm)… Does it feel like winter to you?? I think I actually felt the entire population of Earth shudder a bit in preparation for the colder days ahead. However, the silver lining here is that we just endured the shortest day of the year (just 9 hrs and 5 min) and from here on out, daylight hours will increase! I don’t know about you, but I’ll be celebrating when the sun doesn’t set in the 4 o’clock our anymore!
It was appropriate that we had a few flurries and snow showers to ring in a new season today, but it looks like that’s about the last of the snow that we see for at least a week. Overnight tonight, expect partial clearing with a slight chance of a few spot flurries (no accumulation). The next couple of days will really be the “calm before the storm,” with temps gradually rising, clouds thickening up and spot showers popping up from time to time. We will be watching out for some of those showers overnight Monday into Tuesday morning, especially in the interior. Some freezing rain could plague the morning commute in the Worcester Hills area on Tuesday AM. Take it easy out there.
Maybe a big silver lining for those of us who are dreading the cold winter months ahead; we are in for a major warm up this week. I won’t even tease us with the thought that if the cold air was in place, we would have quite the white Christmas in our future… Oh wait… I did tease us. Sorry ’bout that. In reality, it’s just rain we’re in for, with temps surging to near 60 degrees both Wednesday and Thursday! Our wet and windy Wednesday will be record challenging on more than one account: 1) The record high for December 24th is 61 degrees (set back in 1996) and 2) The precip record for Dec. 24th is 1.33″ (set in 1994). On December 24th this year, we’re expecting between 1-2″ + of rain, and highs near 60! We could be making history here, folks.
Along with this wet mess, we’re going to have some very gusty winds out of the SSE. Gusts could get up to 40-50 mph, and while it could cause for power outages/disruptions, we’re more concerned with the possibility of minor coastal flooding. The main areas and time-frame to watch out for will be along south-facing coastlines during high tide (mid-day) on Wednesday.
The mild air may have us all singing “Mele Kalikimaka” this Christmas, but rest assured; we still live in New England and not in Hawaii… and Old Man Winter will creep back into the forecast soon enough.