Thursday, December 30, 2010

National New Years Forecast

Good evening everyone!
It looks like it's almost time to ring in the new year, and that means it's time for your New Years forecast!

Out in the Northwest, not much will be happening. A trough, or area of continuous low pressure, will be in the far east reaches of the Northwest. However, it will be mainly in Canada as it moves away from the Northwest. A low pressure system will be offshore, but it looks like the precipitation will stay away from the region. Clouds are likely.

Down into the Southwest, high pressure will be in the area, keeping the region high and dry. While clouds are likely by the Pacific Ocean shore from a low pressure system offshore, most areas farther east in the region will be cloudless.

For the general Southern US, a cold front will be over Oklahoma, with another one in south Texas into the Gulf. Precipitation will be associated with these fronts. However, cities such as Dallas, Austin should have variably cloudy skies for the New Year. Tossups for rain and storms are in Houston Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas as the cold front will be somewhat close to the cities around midnight. New Orleans will be dealing with rain and storms as the front moves through, likely canceling firework displays. Mississippi will be covered, extending through west Tennessee and west Kentucky. For the Southeast, high pressure well offshore will keep coastal communities the least cloudy, with areas close to Mississippi in clouds.

In the Northeast, spotty sprinkles of rain are expected in the north portion of New York. The rest of the Northeast will also be affected by the offshore high pressure, again keeping coastal towns' skies as nice as they'll be.

The real mess happens in the Midwest. Countless celebrations will be rained on or snowed on. The dividing line is the Iowa-Illinois border, Missouri-Illinois border, Arkansas-Tennessee border. Areas west will be snowed in, areas east will be under a hard rain with embedded storms. Cities such as Chicago IL, Quad Cities IA, Minneapolis MN, Madison WI will all be affected in one way or another. However. People in IOWA and EAST NEBRASKA may be able to succeed. The dry slot (see Weather Explained) will likely be in that area.

So, in a summary, the Midwest will be a total mess, the Southcentral as well. Southwest and east may be cloudy. Northeast will be fine, as will be Northwest.

Happy New Years!