Welcome winter 2019

Posted 12/26/18

REGION — The solstice on December 21 marked the official beginning of winter, with temperatures in the region warmer than usual and with heavy precipitation. How will the rest of the season …

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Welcome winter 2019

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REGION — The solstice on December 21 marked the official beginning of winter, with temperatures in the region warmer than usual and with heavy precipitation. How will the rest of the season play out?

If you believe some of the more alarming forecasts available, the polar vortex is likely to see a return in January and February and send temperatures plunging. A polar vortex occurs when there is sudden warming high above the polar region, making the winds there relatively unstable. The instability allows very cold arctic air to drop down into the continental U.S. or countries in Europe. At this point, however, there seems to be no real consensus about the likelihood of a polar vortex.

In the short term, the Weather Channel predicts a relatively mild weather for the rest of December as the source of air for much of the U.S. will be coming from the Pacific Ocean rather than the Arctic.

The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts that for the first half of the year in the Northeast there are equal chances that temperatures will above average or below average. This changes from June forward, when chances for above-average temperatures are higher than chances for below-normal temperatures.

In the precipitation picture, NWS predicts equal chance for above-average or below-average totals for most of the year, with the exception being June through October, when the chance for above-average precipitation is more than the chance of below-average precipitation.

winter, sullivan county, Solstice, temperatures

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