As the winter solstice occurred this morning at 6:04am CST, winter was ushered in with unreasonably (in my opinion) cold temperatures as Arctic high pressure settles overhead. The high today occurred at midnight as cold air poured into the Mid-South behind a strong front that pushed through last evening. Mid-day highs are running around 30 degrees with wind chills in the teens thanks to a cold north wind at 10-20 mph. Tonight, the wind will calm only slightly, which in actuality is a good thing, as it will keep temps from totally bottoming out. With dewpoints running in the single digits, a calm night could send temps that low. Thankfully the breeze will keep the atmosphere mixed just enough that lows should *only* reach the low to mid teens (he says with sarcasm…). 😉 Tomorrow’s highs will be similar to today, only starting from a lower point – so expect afternoon temps to again be in the 20s area-wide with a high near 30 under mostly sunny skies.
Fortunately, temperatures won’t drop much Monday night as skies cloud up and a chance of precipitation moves in by morning. I’ll try and write more on that tomorrow, but right now it appears that there could be a wintry mix possible early on Tuesday before temps warm enough to change it to all rain by mid-morning. Stay up to date with the latest forecast from MemphisWeather.net.