Cold ends Wed., then warm until Xmas

Forgive me for abbreviating Christmas as Xmas, but I wanted to reduce the number of characters. Continuing the theme of this winter’s weather: Brief cold snaps followed by longer periods of warmth.

Monday will the coldest day with everyone one on the Northshore reaching freezing, but we’ve seen much worse last January. Tuesday will be the frostiest as winds calm down and a light east breeze at treetop level brings in a bit of moisture. Wednesday and Thursday will bring above normal warmth with a line of showers or thunderstorms moving in Thursday evening with a weak cold front.

Friday will feature a brief, one-day cool down, but temperatures will remain about normal. Next weekend and a Christmas week will be full of 70 degree high temperatures. Smile if you like a Hawaiian Christmas minus the ugly plane flights and ridiculous taxes. Frown if you want snow. The only Christmas week concern could be morning fog. Details follow.

The Foreca graphic looks good, except that it might be forecasting too low a temperature for tomorrow morning. 25 or 26 seems more likely for suburban and rural Northshore locations than 23. Also, 27-28 is what it could get in more densely populated Northshore locations, and Southshore locations away from the Lake and downtown could hit freezing as well. Winds, though they will decrease, could still help mix the lower layers of the atmosphere and keep lows from plunging to the lower 20s. Tomorrow afternoon’s highs in the upper 40s under bright sunshine will sure feel like gumbo weather.

WInds will be completely calm at the surface Monday night and Tuesday morning, but at treetop level, a faint breeze will bring in a bit of moisture from the Sound or Lake. That’s all that will be needed for a lot of frost. Lows will vary from the 26-29 degree range in suburban areas to 30-33 in the more densely populated Northshore ones. Likewise, on the Southshore there will be a large variation in temperature from less populated areas away from the Lake which could see some frost with 35 degree readings to temps. closer to 40 elsewhere.

Some clouds will move in late Tuesday into Wednesday morning, but a warm up will be well underway. We should break 70 on Thursday. With the next weak cold front Thursday evening, a line of showers with a clap or two of thunder may give us another meager tenth of a inch.

Friday’s high of 60 and lows in the 40s are about normal for late December. Then, onto the warmth for Saturday - Monday. Watch out for AM fog Sunday and Monday.

The entire Christmas week should feature highs near 70 or in the 70s with lows near 60 or in the low 60s. Morning fog will be a concern. Showers are possible that Tuesday. The next cold front could arrive a few days after Christmas.