Woe Is Southwest Flow...

As one strong upper disturbance lifts to the NE towards the Great Lakes, another is dropping down over the Southern Rockies.  That will keep us under a southwest upper flow going into and through the weekend.   A southwest upper flow in the Wintertime results in fronts struggling to push through us and/or stalling along the northern Gulf Coast.   Any cold air that filters in behind the front is very shallow and is quickly over run with clouds and more rain.   That type of pattern is setting up for the rest of this weekend into early next year.  We could easily see several inches of rainfall between now and Friday morning with some drying Friday PM before more rain heads back by late on Saturday.  As the next upper disturbance kicks out of the Rockies early on Monday, we could once again see another heavy rain threat.  We'll have to wait until later next week for the upper flow to shift to more W-NW finally bringing in a drier pattern.   Very cold air (25-30 below) is up in Canada and some of that chill will head into the lower 48 during the first week of the new year.  However, I don't see a deep East Coast trough developing that would bring us a hard freeze threat in the next 10-14 days.   December is going to continue the trend of above normal temperatures for us, but we should see a pattern flip sometime during January that could make for a chilly spell late January into February.  Personally, if the sun is out and the temp is 50+, I don't mind putting on my sweaters and heavier coats.  It's when we go days without sunshine that I don't like as my old body lacks energy and my mind lacks motivation.    Hope everyone's Christmas was merry & many of you enjoyed being with family or friends.  Stay tuned!