Monday, January 30, 2012

What's ahead for February?

It has been a mild winter, so far, and that mild winter will continue into the first day of February. Highs are likely to reach near 70 in much of central and eastern North Carolina Wednesday. However, there are now signs we could be in for a pattern change to colder weather beginning around this weekend or next week.

With the coming pattern change, computer models have had a difficult time with the forecast for the weekend. At this time, it appears we could be in for a dreary weekend with a cool rain. That forecast is subject to change though as we hope computer models will come into better agreement for the weekend forecast over the coming days.

Beyond this upcoming weekend, the Climate Prediction Center's 8 to 14 day outlook calls for below normal temperatures for much of the eastern United States including the Carolinas --


While we expect colder weather as we get closer to the middle of February (around 2/5 - 2/12), it is uncertain how long that cold weather will stay. The Climate Prediction Center still shows the month of February warmer than normal on average. With no measurable snowfall yet this winter in our part of North Carolina, I still get asked, "Will it snow this winter?" As I post this Monday morning (1/30), there is no snow in our 7-day forecast. Beyond that, it is still too early to speculate on any snow chances for February. Keep in mind, snow can still fall in our part of North Carolina into March. We'll just have to wait to see what the next several weeks bring.

Stay tuned to News 14 Carolina and Weather on the Ones for the latest on your local forecast!

Lee Ringer
News 14 Carolina Meteorologist
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