Will Winter Ever Come?

Thanks this morning to Alan Barnes for being quick with the camera late last night. He snapped this picture in Lakeview, GA of the snow showers that left a brief dusting on the car top. Alan said, "Finally some snow you can touch." Tangible snow has been hard to come by this month, although portions of Middle Tennessee measured some last night. The National Weather Service Office in Nashville reported 1/2" to 2" there. Putnam County, TN apparently was the big winner with 2" to 3" at Monterey.
Yesterday was a 24 hour rainfall record at Chattanooga's Lovell Field with 1.27" in the bucket. Many of our Channel 3 Storm Alert Skywatchers had impressive amounts ranging from 1 1/2" to 3" of rain. Quite a soaker!
Today we'll see a lot of sunshine, but colder air and west winds 10 to 20 mph and gusty will make it feel pretty chilly all day long. In fact this may be only the third day this month with a daytime high below average.

1. Jan. 6th High:39
2. Jan. 14th High:38
3. Today High:47

Today also marks a transition of sorts. This is the first day the climatalogical highs edge upward one degree. Today's average high is 49. So on paper we're turning the corner toward Spring, although we haven't seen much Winter at all this month.

So what's ahead??

Look for sunshine and highs near 60 Thursday. Mostly sunny skies and highs into the low to mid 60s on Friday. The next system looks like rain from start to finish on Saturday. That storm won't soak the area like the last one, but many areas could see 1/2" to 1". A wetter system scoots through Monday into Tuesday. But that one will likely be all rain as well.

Farther down the road a bigger dip in temps may happen around the 30th or 31st, but that's quite a ways out right now. But to me it wouldn't be all that surprising to see some kind of weather correction at the end of the month or near the first part of February. We'll see.