BLOG: Happy New Year!

The forecast philosophy is pretty much unchanged from the previous few days as the same
theme is present... relatively mild temperatures this weekend with some rain tonight, then back
to near normal to start the first full week of 2011. The rain is not expected to be particularly heavy
as most of the forcing for ascent heads north of our area, but we could still pick up a tenth to a
quarter-inch or so of rainfall in some areas through early tomorrow morning. We should see a
return to sunshine by the afternoon for Sunday, however.

Some differences exist among the model guidance towards the end of next week thanks to an
upper-level ridge over Greenland serving as a block in the flow. Needless to say, model guidance
will be all over the place in the long range as shortwave disturbances interact with each other in a
myriad of ways with each solution, making for low confidence in any particular deterministic
forecast... so we should stick with information we can be more confident about -- temperatures
at the end of the week should be chilly with intervals of clouds and sunshine.

Have a great day!