Hello and happy Monday everyone – welcome to “Cyber Monday” – the busiest online shopping day of the year. If you’re not a big fan of hoards of people and you didn’t participate in Black Friday, you might be able to find that special deal today – buena suerte!

Weather World Today

Say goodbye to November 2009 after today and say goodbye to the mild weather. By all indications, December is going to start off on a much colder note. Some of the coldest air of the season is poised and ready to flush southward in waves over the next two weeks. The first blast of Arctic air will charge into the northern tier states by Wednesday and firmly plant itself in the Great Lakes region by Thursday. The next, reinforcing shot of cold air comes in by early next week. Scroll through the images below – you’ll see Temperatures today, Thursday and next Monday – notice how the colors get increasingly colder to the north. It is inevitable that this will seep into the lower 48. The thin, barbed-wire, fence along the international border, unfortunately, won’t stop much…  Click here to see the full animation:

Pictures from a Friend

Thank you to Rich Koivisto, a good friend of mine, for sending me these photos of his new hometown in Arizona – Looks nice Rich!

Ok, that’s it for today. I will have more tomorrow, come back and see us, won’t you!

Meteorologist Todd Nelson – WeatherNation LLC

Judging from the temperatures we’ve seen in November, it certainly feels like winter has been locked up away somewhere. Wouldn’t it be nice to escape that bitter cold? Well, of course that is pretty much impossible, but much of the nation has certainly lucked out. Temperatures have persistently been running 10 to 25 degrees above the average–from the Midwest to the Southeast. Kansas yesterday set a few record highs–Hoxie, Oberlin and Ness City managed to reach the mid 70s. Record highs were also reported in Oklahoma and Nebraska. Central and Southern Texas creeped their way into the 70s and even the 80s (Brownsville hit a high of 82° today!).

Today there have been some big changes, however. A gusty cold front has finally allowed some of that colder Canadian air to slip into much of the nation–nevertheless this only brought temperatures closer to seasonable temperatures rather than below average. Texas is really feeling the punch today. Just take a look at the sharp change in temperature we saw today:

Texas: Afternoon Temperatures

Forecasted highs tomorrow in San Antonio and Houston are in the 50s. Brownsville is expected to top off in the mid 60s in the morning with temperatures dropping throughout the day. For the first time in a while, we will be seeing below average temperatures in Texas. However, up north, despite the colder air that arrived, the Midwest still hasn’t been able to shake off the mild temperatures. Yes, it was much colder today, but temperatures are still running above the average. The Twin Cities today topped off at 37°. The average? 33°. Tomorrow, believe it or not, a surge of warmer air will actually bump up temperatures in the Midwest AGAIN. However, I’m fairly sure this will be the last couple of days of mild weather for the region–models are picking up on a much more impressive blast of cold air. This time, we will certainly be in winter mode. Highs in the 20s are expected by the second half of the workweek in the upper Midwest. Brr.

Looks like we’re running out of luck now! Get your jackets and coats ready for winter. These next few weeks are going to be bit different than November.

Black Friday can be one hectic day but with the added effects of bad weather, shoppers in the Northeast were probably second guessing heading out the door early this morning.  Rain and snow showers will continue today with a steady northwest wind blowing in the faces of shoppers.  Tonight,  4-8″ of snow could accumulate in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York  state as well as in the Green and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire.  Also, a light coating of snow can be expected in the higher mountains of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  Expect unsettled weather conditions to persist through next week.

On the other side of the country, snow and rain showers will progress through the Northwest today/tonight.  Thanks to a lack of cold air in the storm only a few inches of snow will fall over the Cascades and Northern Rockies .  High winds and snow could still hinder travel plans in the Sierra Nevada Mountains tonight/tomorrow.  The snow will move into the Central Rockies this weekend producing fresh powder up at the slopes.

Despite a few rain showers in south Texas today, sunny and pleasant weather will prevail across the southern half of the country today.  Chances of rain and maybe a few storm will increase across the South tomorrow.

Weekend Outlook:

Saturday

Sunday

Enjoy the weekend

Kristin Clark

WeatherNation Meteorologist

I love Thanksgiving.  I love it because this holiday incorporates the two things I thoroughly enjoy in life…food and football.  It’s also a time when I reflect on all that I am thankful for.  As always, I’m thankful for the good company of family and friends. I’m also thankful this Thanksgiving for the fairly quiet weather across the nation.  Seriously.  The weather could be a lot worse out there!  There are, of course, a few exceptions like over the Great Lake and Pacific Northwest where snow and rain showers will prevail.  For the majority of America, however,  the weather today won’t be all that bad.

Watch for rain to become more widespread into tonight across the Northeast as two storms work in tandem to bring the area wet and windy weather tomorrow.  For Black Friday, a few inches of snow could accumulate in the higher elevations of western PA, northern NY, VT and NH.  The rest will experience a raw day with high winds and a cool rain.  Tomorrow will certainly feel like a true November day.

Sunny skies and dry weather will continue tomorrow for the southern part of the nation.  Cooler weather arrives in the Southwest with an increased chance of shower into Saturday and Sunday across the Four Corners.  The Northwest braces for another rainstorm today.  Due to the slow nature of this storm, rainfall amounts could easily exceed 1″ near the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon state.  Flash flood watches have already been posted for the Seattle area through tomorrow morning.  This same storm will bring high elevation snow to the Northern Rockies and Cascades through Saturday.  Even the lower valleys could pick up 1-2″.

And here’s something unusual.  As of today, there is absolutely no snow covering the ground in the Northeast.  Typically by this time of year we have a little bit of snow, especially dotting the higher elevations and downwind of the Great Lakes.  Rochester, NY has not had a measurable snowfall this month.  The city averages about 8″ of snow during the month of November.  The last measurable snow for both Rochester and Buffalo, NY was back on April 7.  Skiiers are definitely getting that skiing inch.  With this next storm, I’m expecting snow to be covering at least some real estate by the end of the weekend.

Also, notice the lack of snow over the Midwest and High Plains.  The Twin Cities typically average about 9-10″ of snow for November but they haven’t recorded a single flake this month!  I think we’re all holding our breath.  The snow is bound to come soon.

Kristin Clark

WeatherNation Meteorologist

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone, I hope you’re enjoying your week so far. Before we get into the real meat and potatoes I HAVE to show you this…

This screen capture was taken from a surveillance camera in South Africa during the Leonid Meteor Showers last week. You can view the video here – it is definitely worth checking out! Not sure if you were able to see any meteors last week, I saw only one, but wasn’t actively looking – It was pretty neat.

OK – what’s next…

Well, the big question is holiday travel. Everybody wants to know if the weather will be messy in their neck of the woods. Here, again, is the expected weather around the Nation: (I showed this graphic yesterday, but we can get some more mileage out of – enjoy!)

The only trouble spots will be around the Great Lakes and the Pacific Northwest, other than that, it looks pretty quiet as we gear up for the big feast.

Activities Tomorrow

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:

Thanksgiving Day Fooball:

Packers @ Detroit – Kickoff @ 12:30 PM EST – Mostly cloudy with spotty showers and breezy. Temp: 43 degrees. Winds: SW 10 to 15 mph

Raiders @ Cowboys – Kickoff @ 4:15 PM EST – Mostly sunny. Temp: 63 degrees. Winds: WNW 5 to 10 mph

Giants @ Broncos – Kickoff @ 8:20 PM EST – Mostly clear and comfortable. Temp: 50 degrees. Winds: 7 to 14 mph

Running of the Shoppers – Black Friday:

For those heading out early Friday morning to get those great deals, here’s the weather map. Though, I’m not sure the weather will be the biggest thing to worry about… watch out for crazy shoppers – YIKES!!!

Alrighty, that’ll about do it for me today. WeatherNation meteorologist Kristin Clark is at the helm over the next couple of days. I’ll see you next week. Have a happy Thanksgiving, happy shopping and stay safe and healthy.

Meteorologist Todd Nelson – WeatherNation LLC