We continue the pattern of Fall and early winter with chills that just come and go while milder air prevails much of the time.

The first month of “Meteorological Winter” (starts December 1st) has seen above-normal temperatures for most of the country:

Warm Decembers have been common since 2000, with 8 of the top warmest Decembers on record since then.

In fact, heating demand in December has been declining since 1960 as seen in this chart from WSI:

This December will be the 4th warmest nationally since 1960.

Temperatures in the short-term will be near-average (briefly below and briefly above). This will be followed by another drop to below-normal in the medium range:

That in turn is followed by another warm spell long-term:

It’s high pressure ridging in the jet stream pattern over Cuba and the Southeast with a -PNA that does the trick:

No sign of any big time winter in the foreseeable future. So far it looks like the up and down pattern we’ve been in will continue for most of January.

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