Monday, February 23, 2009
Weather columnist Kevin Myatt: Approaching pattern more mild than wild
Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.
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- Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
- For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
- Coldest morning of winter so far likely across much of Southwest Virginia; Tuesday precipitation looking doubtful
- Weather Journal blog
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Cue the zonal flow.
After another day or two of these chilly but mostly dry northwest winds that have defined much of the winter, the weather pattern will reshape itself to bring a fairly steady west-to-east flow across the nation at the high levels of the atmosphere. This is called a zonal flow.
This will supply a pipeline of milder air off the Pacific Ocean, and periodically bring storm systems across the nation -- some of which could bring rain.
It's much of what we would expect for early spring, which begins Sunday on the meteorological calendar ... and not for three more weeks on the astronomical calendar.
Highs this week, after today, should be in the 50s most days, with 60s not out of the question a day or two later in the week.
A cold front late in the week, preceded by a chance of rain, may trim the temperatures back a little. But it will be off the Pacific, too -- not out of Canada, where our coldest air comes from.
Winter almost never surrenders without a fight, so expect a couple of additional punches of Arctic air as we move through March. But for the next few days, things look more mild than wild.
