Mild trend likely to hold through end of winter
Weather is constantly changing and at times can be very unpredictable. The reason, has a lot to do with the atmosphere being a fluid and accurately predicting every element within the atmosphere and what it’s going to do. This opens up a window of unpredictability the further into the future weather models look. However, by looking at trends and patterns you can make an educated guess of what the trend will be as we head into the coming months.
Just this winter Mid-Missouri has seen everything from an ice storm, to snow, and now watching the risk of severe weather through the evening. It’s a perfect display of how weather can change dramatically even within seasons. The driving force behind most of our weather is the jet stream, a river of air that travels around the globe more than 100 miles per hour.
The jet stream is essentially a boundary between cold and warm air, and as of late that jet stream has been to our north. It’s a trend that many of the long term models that meteorologists use to study weather, continue to show. This means many more mild winter days will be expected over the course of this month, of course that can and will change.
Just one small dip in the jet stream can bring cooler weather. This will be seen as we head through this week, as a roller coaster ride of temperatures continue. Tuesday will feature highs in the 60s, then by mid-week highs dip into the 30s, and back into the 50s by the weekend.
Long term models are hinting that this pattern will hold, meaning while the winter won’t be as warm as last year, it will still go down as a mild one. Weather though is constantly changing, which means so are our models. Just one small disturbance can mean the difference between warmer air or a polar plunge later on down the road. It’s for this reason that Mid-Missourians should always stay alert when it comes to tracking weather conditions and that can be done by downloading our ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather App or watching ABC 17 News daily.
