Record Heat Wednesday & Your Black Friday Forecast
by Cody Matz
November 21, 2012 8:14 PM
It has been a wonderful few days. Whether you like the cold and snow, or warm and dry, it’s pretty tough to find anyone complaining about the weather much of this week. A couple records fell on Tuesday, but nearly a dozen fell midweek leading to one of the nicest days before thanksgiving that the region has ever seen. Those records that fell on Wednesday can be seen highlighted in the image on your left. However, this is all about to change. A cold front will be moving through the region on Thanksgiving drastically increasing the winds and ushering in some cooler air. Thanksgiving itself will be 15 to 25 degrees colder with another 15 to 25 degree drop for Black Friday. Below is a look at some of the records set this week as well as a look at your very cold Black Friday forecast.
Here is a look at the high temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday compared to the daily records.
As you can imagine, these numbers are well above average. But we aren’t the only ones in the country to see a warm day on Wednesday. Below is a picture of the temperature anomaly across the entire country. Basically this shows how surface temperatures compare to normal.
Our area appears to be the warmest location in the country when comparing temperatures to average with highs some 35 degrees above average. But 95% of the country was above average Wednesday with the only locations not above average are the far west coast and portions of south Florida.
The cold air starts to move in late Wednesday and early Thursday leading to a cooler day Thanksgiving, as highs will drop from their peak. Still expecting temps above average because this first shot of cooler air is not from the Arctic. However, just wait till Thursday night when our area of low pressure jaunts to the northeast and begins to funnel Arctic air into the state. This will allow for another HUGE drop in temperatures on Friday. Below is a look at 850mb temperatures (about 5000 feet above the surface) for Wednesday afternoon, Thursday afternoon, and then really early Friday morning.
I inserted the 2 cold fronts in there for you just in case it wasn’t obvious enough. Pretty simple though when seen from this view, that temperatures will be drastically colder Friday then where we were just 36 hours earlier.
Here is a peak at your Black Friday shopping forecast for the Sioux Falls area.
This doesn’t seem all that cold, but a couple things I want to point out. First of all, we have seen very mild weather the last few days, which can allow your body to unfamiliarize itself with cold weather again (it really doesn’t take long). Also, notice the wind speeds…. Sustained 15 to 30 mph with gusts higher then that, which means it will feel much colder then these temperatures. So let me show you this forecast again, but this time it will have the wind chill on it, or what it will actually feel like out there with the winds.
Looks far colder doesn’t it?? When temperatures start to dip into the 20’s and even teens, it really doesn’t take a whole lot of wind for it to fell so much colder. So bundle up, stay warm, and I hope you have a good time bargain hunting.
