Don’t Sweat It

2013-01-12 17:47:31.000 – Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

One of many puddles of water

Weather is extremely variable by nature. Despite the calendar saying January, and our climate data telling us that our high temperature today and tomorrow should be somewhere in the vicinity of 5F, nature has a different plan.

Today’s daily record high is 40F, and we’ve managed to hit 38F so far today, with more moderation expected through the evening and early tonight. This record may very well bite the dust at any time.

The unseasonable warmth has turned our snowy summit into a mish-mosh of water and slush.

Tomorrow’s daily record high is 41F, which will almost certainly be broken. In fact, with temperatures expected to continue warming tonight, our low temperature tomorrow may not even drop below the record high. Now that’s some serious warmth!

The more interesting record, though, lies on a larger scale: 47F, which is the all-time record high for the month of January. Considering one computer model predicts a high of 46F, and another predicts a high of 51F, this record could be in jeopardy tomorrow. A lot of little factors, such as amount of sunshine vs. cloud cover, amount of snowpack, wind direction, etc. go into forecasting the exact high temperature. An unexpected few minutes of sunshine could be enough to drive the mercury over the 47F mark, while slightly higher winds could be enough to keep the air sufficiently mixed to prevent an anomalous 2-3 degree temperature spike.

So, for now, we watch and wait to see if the monthly record falls by the wayside!

Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist