IT'S STILL COLD....

Right now it's cold. Here's a look across the country on Sunday evening and winter has got it's grip on almost everyone.

Another reminder that Florida ain't bad this time of year (hey, I just got back from visiting my family down there and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!).

But I digress... I'm back and in the Midwest it's cold, it's been cold and it's staying cold.

We have shown this graphic on tswails.com a few times over the last few days. The Climate Prediction Center outlook for mid-December...

This is showing we have a pretty good chance (50-60%) of experiencing above normal temperatures during the December 17-23 time frame. Great news considering we've been below normal for... a while. The last 30 days the entire Midwest has been below normal with high and low temperatures combined...

Temperatures over the last 30 days have been as much as 8-9 degrees below normal! Especially where the bulk of the snow fell from the November 24-25. Now temperatures are going to be above normal, but remember now our "normals" are pretty cold... So here's an example for Cedar Rapids through December 23rd...

Our average high temperature around this time of year is in the low 30s... so the pattern is going to lead to temperatures getting around 5-10 degrees above normal, but it's still going to be cold.

In the short term there's not much going on. Here's the next five days:

The next front comes through Thursday and could bring some rain/snow showers, but otherwise it's pretty calm. It's going to be cold and then it's going to be a little warmer as we head into the end of the week and next week (but it's still going to be cold!).

RK