Thread: Temperatures May Hit 80 on Christmas Eve in North Carolina

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Temperatures May Hit 80 on Christmas Eve in North Carolina

By Lee Ringer
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 07:00 AM EST

We are about to experience the warmest Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we have ever lived through. That is, of course, unless you have ever spent Christmas in Florida, the Caribbean, or the Southern Hemisphere.

An unsual weather pattern for late December partly driven by El Niño will spread very warm air across the southeastern United States through Christmas weekend.

The warmest day will likely be Christmas Eve when afternoon highs should top out around 80 from near Raleigh and Fayetteville to just inland from the state's beaches.

Here's a look at the record highs that will likely fall on Christmas Eve:

• Charlotte: 71 (1982)
• Fayetteville: 78 (1931)
• Greensboro: 71 (1964)
• Raleigh-Durham: 75 (1931)
• Wilmington: 78 (1879)

Records could also be broken on Christmas Day. Fridays highs should reach the 70s in central North Carolina.

Parts of southeastern North Carolina may again hit 80.

Before Christmas arrives, most of the state will see between one to three inches of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday with higher totals likely in western North Carolina. Just a few spotty showers are possible Christmas Eve. At this point, Christmas Day should be mainly dry.

More weather resources from twcnews.com:

• Interactive radar
• 7-day forecast
• Meteorologist Lee Ringer on Facebook
• @LeeRingerWx on Twitter

http://www.twcnews.com/nc/triangle-s...-carolina.html

Spring in December: Record warmth forecast for eastern U.S.

East Coast heads for record-breaking Christmas heat wave as cold air stays locked in Arctic

A colourful sky before sunrise on Whitley Bay beach, as December could be the mildest across a large part of England since records began more than 350 years ago, forecasters have said.IMAGE: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA WIRE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY ANDREW FREEDMAN

An unusual, long-lasting weather pattern will lead to the warmest Christmas Eve on record for many locations east of the Mississippi River on Thursday, as the planet as a whole barrels toward the milestone of its warmest year on record. By the end of this week, it's likely that hundreds more warm temperature records will have fallen across the United States, adding to December's already impressive tally of about 6,000 warm temperature records (record highs and record warm lows).

As has occurred throughout much of the month, mild air will flow this week from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Great Lakes and New England, circling around the backside of a sprawling area of high pressure parked off the East Coast. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday look to be the days when the most records are in jeopardy from the Southeast to the Northeast, with records likely to be set in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts and several other states.

SEE ALSO: This is how much warmer 2015 has been than any year recorded


Average temperature departures from average from Dec. 1-19, 2015.
IMAGE: NOAA/CPC

In Washington, D.C., the high temperature may exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit on Christmas Eve — about 30 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the date. Mild temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s could make it all the way north to upstate New York and northern Michigan before a cold front causes temperatures to fall off toward more seasonable levels by late on Friday.

In addition to these locations, Atlanta, Raleigh and Tampa are likely to set new temperature milestones on Christmas Eve, according to Weather Underground.

Christmas Day looks to be warmest across the Southeast, with records falling in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and other locations, while the Northeast cools off compared to Christmas Eve's balminess, but remains warmer-than-average.
Many cities are on pace to have their warmest December on record, including Boston, Burlington, Vermont, New York City and Portland, Maine. A map showing the departures from average of temperatures so far this month shows-off-the-charts warmth has enveloped much of the eastern tier of the country, with average temperature anomalies exceeding 9 degrees Fahrenheit. (The anomalies on the map only go up to 8 degrees Fahrenheit, since monthly anomalies rarely exceed that margin.)

In another sign of the mild start to the winter, some cities have set records for their latest first measurable snowfall.

In Buffalo, New York, where it usually starts snowing by late October to early November, the first measurable snow of this winter did not arrive until Dec. 18.

In Buffalo, New York, where it usually starts snowing by late October to early November, the first measurable snow of this winter did not arrive until Dec. 18. Before this, the latest first snow in Buffalo was on Dec. 3, 1899.Even more locations, including Albany, New York, and Worcester, Massachusetts, are likely to set similar records, assuming it does not snow prior to Dec. 24, Weather.com reported.

According to preliminary data from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) in Asheville, North Carolina, 2,643 record daily highs were tied or broken across the U.S. through Dec. 19. In addition, 3,720 record-warm daily low temperatures have been set or tied during the same period. Adding those two figures together for an overall warm temperature records total means there have already been 6,363 warm temperature records so far this month.

It's conceivable that this will climb by at least another 1,000 warm temperature records by the end of the holiday week.

Whither the polar vortex?

This warmth may be catching many people, who have become accustomed to the punishingly cold and snowy winters of the past few years, off guard. In fact, the warmth right now has a direct link to the polar vortex, which can best be described in general terms as a spinning top of phenomenally cold air, swirling around an area of low pressure miles above the Arctic surface. When the polar vortex circulation is strong, as it is now, the cold air at the surface tends to stay bottled up near the Arctic.


Computer model simulation of the polar vortex circulation as of Monday, December 21, 2015.
IMAGE: EARTH SIMULATOR

When it weakens, as it did for a time in the past two winters, Arctic cold can ooze southward from the North Pole, affecting parts of the U.S. and Europe, among other areas.

The polar vortex is a unique weather phenomenon in the sense that it usually makes news in the mid-latitudes, such as the U.S., when it is weak, not when it is most intense. In fact, when it is strong, it hardly makes the news at all.

Worldwide warmth

The U.S. warmth is also connected to a powerful El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Such climate cycles tend to favor unusually mild temperatures across the northern tier of the country, with many Decembers turning out unusually mild across the lower 48 states when El Niño conditions are particularly strong.

The current El Niño is officially ranked as the second-strongest on record since 1950

The current El Niño is officially ranked as the second-strongest on record since 1950, and may eclipse the current title-holder of 1997-98 before the winter is over.The combination of El Niño and manmade global warming has pushed the global climate into a new era of rapid warming, with the year almost certain to wind up as the warmest on record.

According to several official climate monitoring agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the month of November was the warmest such month on record, dating back to the late 19th century. The November global average temperature, averaged over the land and ocean using a variety of temperature sensors, from buoys to climate sites scattered around the world, was an astonishing 1.75 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.97 degrees Celsius, above the 20th century average, according to NOAA's data.

This beat November 2013 by 0.27 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.15 degrees Celsius.




According to NOAA, the months of September, October, and November 2015 had the three highest monthly temperature departures on record. Out of 1,630 monthly records, eight months during 2015 are among the 10 highest monthly temperature departures from their respective averages, and all of the months of 2015 to date are among the 25 highest.

In order to avert having 2015 set a new milestone for record warmth, December would have to be at least 1.46 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.81 degrees Celsius, colder than average, NOAA scientists calculated. This works out to being 0.43 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.24 degrees Celsius, colder than the record low December temperature of 1916!

Given the conditions across the U.S., as well as record warmth in Australia and parts of Europe, a frigid month like December 1916 is simply impossible so late in the game.

http://mashable.com/2015/12/21/warm-.../#FfjUEa_qMEqL

Updated: 7:11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 | Posted: 7:11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015

Atlanta could see warmest Christmas ever recorded

The Associated Press

ATLANTA —
Forecasters say this Christmas could be the warmest ever recorded for several other Georgia cities.

The National Weather Service said the high temperature in Atlanta on Christmas Eve is expected to be 74. That would break the record for Dec. 24, which is 72 degrees set in 1984. The weather service projects a high of 74 on Christmas Day, as well, which would also break the old record of 72 degrees for Dec. 25.

In Macon, the weather service projects a high temperature of around 79 degrees on Christmas Eve, which would break the record for the date of 77 degrees set in 1964.

Forecasters say Athens and Columbus are among other cities that could see near-record highs.

Forecasters say the warm air could fuel some strong thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday.

http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/georgia/a...ecorded/nppxP/

Winter heat wave to bring threat of tornadoes to Deep South

14 Tornados Reported in Miss.

http://www.alipac.us/f19/christmas-e...warmer-326643/

Warm weather sets new record on Christmas Eve

The lights on the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon glow against a cloudy sky at dawn on Christmas Eve.
(Jerry Jackson / Baltimore Sun)

Pamela WoodContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun

Warm weather sets new record on Christmas Eve.

It's not going to be a white Christmas. In fact, far from it.

"If you want a white Christmas, you're having a blue Christmas," said Ray Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Baltimore-Washington forecast office.

Baltimore is in for a warm, rainy holiday weekend, thanks to weather patterns that are bringing warm air and tropical moisture to the region.

On Thursday morning, the warm weather had already shattered the record for the day of 65 degrees, set in 1982 and 1990 at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in Linthicum. By 7:30 a.m., the temperature was 68 degrees and rising.

Martin said there's been a strong ridge of high pressure that's been "more or less stationary" off of the East Coast pumping in warm air, plus another low pressure system located over Lake Superior -- and combined, they're bringing tropical moisture northward.


Tornadoes ravage the South, killing at least 10

"It's a pattern that has been common this month, and right now it is passing an extreme," Martin said.

It's possible that the temperature could hit a new monthly record on Thursday. The all-time record for December in Baltimore is 77 degrees, set on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7 in 1998.

The forecast calls for a high of 73, but if there's enough afternoon sunshine, a new record is possible, Martin said.

Thursday is also expected to be rainy and a flash flood watch is in effect for most of the Baltimore region.

Christmas Day will see warm weather again with a high of 69 degrees and a 50 percent chance of rain during the day and 70 percent chance of rain at night.

Saturday will have a high of 60 and a chance of rain again, at 60 percent.

Sunday will have a high near 70 and a 30 percent chance of rain.

By Monday, the weather will turn more seasonable, with a high temperature of 46 degrees, but expect a warm-up into the 50s for Tuesday and Wednesday.

All is not lost for winter weather lovers, Martin said.

Those who've lived in Maryland long enough know that winter weather can be highly variable and the El Nino pattern could fuel strong storms -- and those could be snowstorms if the weather cools off.

"It's not atypical to see large fluctuations in temperature in the winter," Martin said. "Of course, this is a bit on the extreme side."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/wea...224-story.html

Vermont sees record-high Christmas Eve temperature

Updated 10:48 am, Thursday, December 24, 2015

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — At least parts of northern New England are seeing record-breaking warm temperatures this Christmas Eve.

The National Weather Service says the temperature hit 68 degrees in Montpelier, Vermont, on Thursday afternoon, smashing the previous record for the day of 51 degrees.

Elsewhere, temperatures were significantly higher than normal but not quite record-breaking. The record-high for Portland, Maine, is 53 degrees in 1957, while Concord, New Hampshire's record-high for the day was set in 1871 when temperatures climbed to 57 degrees.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...re-6719805.php

New York City sees record warmth on Christmas Eve

AFP | New York December 25, 2015 Last Updated at 00:48 IST

New Yorkers doing some last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve left their winter coats at home today as temperatures soared to record highs.

The mercury hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius) in the morning, prompting some people in the Big Apple to head out in T-shirts even though skies were overcast.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures could soar to 74 degrees Fahrenheit in the city's iconic Central Park later in the day -- that would be a first for the date since weather record keeping began in 1871.

The previous record for December 24, 63 degrees, dates back to 1996.

Fall and winter have been very mild on the US East Coast so far this season, much to the dismay of stores selling coats, scarves and gloves.

Today's record is one of several set in the past two months, with 66 degrees recorded in Central Park on December 13.

The monthly average temperature for December is 37.5 degrees Fahrenheit in New York.

In contrast, last winter was especially cold and snowy in the largest US city.

http://www.business-standard.com/art...2500021_1.html

http://www.alipac.us/f19/texas-panha...1/#post1485142