Chilly air stays put for this first week of December

It definitely looked and felt like winter is officially right around the corner as we flipped the calendar to December finishing out the holiday weekend. The nice blanket of snow that fell Saturday night melted off quickly but the unseasonably cold air remained in place and you could definitely feel it to kick off the week on this Cyber Monday. Temperatures started the day in the low 20s with afternoon highs only recovering into the mid-30s despite some sunshine. Even though temperatures may try to rebound slightly in the coming days we’ll continue to see more unseasonably cold air winning out for this first week of December.

A fast moving mid-level clipper system will slide by to our southwest late Monday bringing a few snow showers, especially for our southern and western parts of the commonwealth. There may be a light coating in those areas (and a few slick spots on the roadways) but the system will be in and out in short order so mainly clear skies are expected overnight and into daybreak. High pressure will build in from the west with more sunshine expected along with chilly afternoon highs into the mid-30s.

The parade of clipper systems coming out of Canada will continue into the midweek with another wave of low pressure passing well to our north across the Great Lakes. The trailing cold front will slide through the commonwealth into Wednesday night bringing a low end rain/snow chance to the area but the impacts will be minimal. A breezy southwest wind ahead of the boundary will help push afternoon highs back into the low 40s Wednesday before a reinforcing shot of  colder air follows suit. Thursday looks to be cold and blustery with gusty northwest winds and afternoon highs back down into the low 30s. Our “feel-like ” temperatures will be down into the upper teens and low 20s thanks to the wind so the heavy winter jackets will come in handy again.

Heading toward the weekend conditions should remain tranquil but chilly before another weak system slides into the Ohio Valley by Saturday. It should be the same scenario with a low end rain/snow shower chance as afternoon highs slowly recover into the low 40s. The data is showing a wave of energy moving up from the southwest late Sunday as a frontal boundary drops in from the northwest. This may bring more significant rain chances early next week as temperatures jump back closer to average with afternoon highs back into the low 50s as that system moves in.