Now that December has arrived let's take a look at how the temperature of the first eleven months of 2014 compare to previous years measured in Central Park. For the second year in a row January through November was cooler than the most recent (1981-2010) thirty-year average and 3.3 degrees cooler than the same period in the record warm year of 2010. Seven of the first eleven months were cooler than average this year, something that hasn't happened since 2009, and last month was the third straight cooler-than-average November, which hasn't occurred for any month for about a decade.
As for today, well, it's a blah forecast for a blah day. A weak coastal storm moving from Long Island up to Maine today isn't quite strong enough or near enough to do anything other than wring out a small bit of rain from an impressively saturated atmosphere. Look for a couple more rounds of light showers before mid-afternoon and maybe some drizzle from then until a cold front arrives later this evening. Despite the clouds temperatures should rise to the lower 50s in the city.
High pressure will make a quick visit tomorrow before giving way to a weekend of unsettled weather. Thursday's high will only reach the lower 40s but there will be plenty of sunshine. As we head into the weekend and early next week the jet stream will become very zonal, meaning the air mainly moves from west to east. With a zonal pattern cold air tends to stay to our north and warm air to our south. Instead of the wild temperature swings we've had recently we can expect several days with temperatures staying much closer to the seasonal average in the mid 40s. A zonal jet stream also translates into a good chance of rain each day from Friday well into next week as any storm just won't have enough oomph to push their way northward.
