12/10/11 SADD people, the peak of darkness is here!

We have entered that time period on the calendar when the earliest sunsets of the year will occur. Here in Boston that time is an early 4:12 PM.  The earth, as it makes its orbit around the sun is about to tilt furthest away from the sun in the northern hemisphere. However, the way the orbit is aligned (without getting too technical) is skewed some so that the earliest sunsets happen the weeks before the solstice and the latest sunrises occur the weeks after th solstice. Have no fear!  December 21, is still the shortest day of the year,  9 hours 5 minutes of daylight in Boston. 

You will also not that in the sky, how low the sun is on the horizon. As the winter solstice approached, the sun will only rise to 24 degrees above the horizon, casting long shadows even in the noon sun and its transit across the sky is very short compared to the summer sun which reaches 71 degrees above the horizon. The position of the sun on the image above is relative to angle in the sky above Boston.  The winter sun also sets south of West in the winter at 237 degrees.

The weekend weather looks to be great, but cooler and more December like. A few clouds this morning will give way to sunshine and no storms are seen in the short term forecast. A storm pattern out of Texas will shape our weather for late in the week ahead, with no major cold seen.

12/8/11 The first Arctic airmass moves in!

I am sure for a while, many of you have thought, where is winter, or at least, it does not feel like Christmas weather. Then you hear of places like Texas or Mississippi receiving snowfall and you are wearing shorts in Boston. Somthing just did not seem right.

This graph of the temperatures at Boston tell the storm of how warm it has been since October 1, 2011. The coldest temperature was only 31 degrees (at the airport). Many areas have fallen into the 20s, but it is still indicative of how warm it has been. One day below freezing!

This will change this weekend as a shot of arctic air finally pushes south over the Northeast and will allow temperatures to fall to or below normal, at least for a few days.

The pinks and purples on this map are cold temperatures with the deepest purples still over Canada. However this airmass will allow all areas to drop into the teens and 20s for overnight lows and only allow daytime highs to reach about 40 in the Boston area. Outlying areas will be cooler.  However, not the mild (green) air over the northern plains, this will move back into the area later next week, but will not last as shots of cooler air get reinforced.

Overnight Saturday will be one of the coldest mornings of the season so far across New England.

Note:  My 5 day forecast is for the general Boston metro area and is likely an average of what you can expect across Boston. (Official readings are at the airport, and only a few of you live in that location) So I try to incorporate some of the surrounding areas as well.

12/6/11 It's Going to Feel more Like Christmas

Colder air is on the way, but we will have one more day of temperatures in the mid 60s!!

Rain and drizzle will be with us for the next 48 hours as a cold front slowly pushes through the area to bring in some more seasonable temperatures for early December.

A coastal storm will likely pass out to sea on Thursday and remain weak and will just give a brief shower. Some higher elevations could see some snow or sleet.

A clipper system pushes by on Saturday to possibly squeeze out some snow showers.