12:15 PM | "An island of warmth in an ocean of cold"...big changes coming early next week

Discussion

After possible record-breaking warmth on Sunday in the I-95 corridor, big changes are coming early next week that will bring a return to an overall cold weather pattern likely to last right into 2014. A strong cold front will drift slowly southeastward on Monday and it’ll get hung up along the east coast as low pressure develops along a rather tight temperature gradient frontal boundary zone. Periods of rain are likely on Monday as colder air slowly filters into the Mid-Atlantic region. There is even a small chance that the rain changes to light snow before ending on Monday night in areas north of the PA/MD border as the cold air finally makes a significant push into the region.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) is looking like it’ll be a far cry from Sunday which will be the culmination of the current warm spell. In fact, temperatures on Tuesday will do no better than the 30’s for highs in most Mid-Atlantic locations after possibly reaching the 70 degree mark on Sunday. There will also be a noticeable chilly breeze later Tuesday and an upper-level disturbance threatens to bring some snow shower activity to portions of the Mid-Atlantic region. The cold weather will be firmly entrenched in the region by the time Christmas morning rolls around and numerous Arctic air outbreaks are in the offing as we close out the month of December and begin 2014. In fact, the GFS computer forecast model has been consistently generating brutal Arctic air outbreaks at the end of the month and into the first week of 2014 for the northern US and, given the overall weather pattern, this is quite believable.