Reality Check

After a weekend that featured record high temperatures, flooding rains, and snow along the lake shore, the area is back into the grips of winter. Sunday 's high of 63 degrees was one degree away from a record for the date and several cities in Northern Ohio did break record highs.  The warmth, snow melt  and heavy rains pushed many area streams and rivers into flood stage. Most have now receded but a few are still in flood stage but they too will fall below flood stage in the next couple of days.   Approximately eleven (11) tornadoes hit the mid south this past Friday and Saturday resulting in at least two (2) losses of life. Now with the Eastern USA under northwest flow, a colder, drier and more stable weather pattern will hold for the rest of the holiday week.On Christmas Eve temperatures across Northern Ohio fell into the upper tens with lake effect snows blowing off of Lake Erie; a white Christmas will be had by some. For Christmas it will cloudy and a bit cold for this time of the year with high temperatures not rising above freezing.  A week disturbance may spread some light snow across the area late Christmas day into the night. Temperatures will moderate the rest of the week with high temperatures around 40 degrees all weekend before the next system moves in late Sunday.

Light snow is being produced by the northwest flow over the lake. Cold temperatures have once again moved in over Northeast Ohio

Christmas Day should be mostly quiet as high pressure moves off to the east of the area allowing a weakening low pressure system to move through the Great Lakes region. 

High pressure will  maintain its influence through Saturday providing moderating temperatures and at times sunshine.

Sunday evening the next cold front will be moving through. This will return the area to the colder than normal temperatures next week. Looking ahead into next week, an upper level trough is forecast to maintain and maybe even deepen across the Eastern USA. Our attention will turn quickly to a low pressure that will organize along the northern gulf coast for the potential that it will spread snow to our area in the early days of the New Year.