After a couple of 70+ degree days, cooler air has arrived & temps. will struggle to reach the low to mid 60s Thu. under thick cloud cover, some fog & areas of drizzle & light rain. The sun returns Fri. so the cool temps. will at least feel warmer. It's looking an upper level disturbance & strong upper level southwest flow will combine to make for a less than perfect weekend of weather (or you could look at it as good weather for staying inside & watching football). Clouds will quickly increase Sat. with at least a few showers by late in the day that will then turn into widespread rain Sat. night-Sun. This could be some decent rain for the First Coast. While it'll stay cool into early next week, there's no real cold air in sight for at least the next 7-10 days. There are, however, signs of another significant buckle in the jet stream late next week into the following week that could result in an active weather pattern again & cold, arctic air sinking at least into the northern half to two-thirds of the U.S. by mid month.
Dec. is in the books & ended up a mild month with near avg. rain. Temps. were 2.7 degrees & rainfall at JIA about a half inch below avg. at JIA but a good deal of the S'side & some other areas had more rain. The Jax NWS provided the following Dec. totals:
JACKSONVILLE VICINITY/NORTHEAST FLORIDA...
JACKSONVILLE BEACH..... 5.22
GAINESVILLE ......... 6.93
LAKE CITY 2E......... 3.96
FEDERAL POINT........ 4.22
ST. AUGUSTINE LITEHS. 8.61
ST. AUGUSTINE ARPT... 6.00
CRAIG FIELD............ 3.03 HASTINGS 4NE......... 3.37
MAYPORT NS............. 3.29 HIGH SPRINGS......... 3.88
JASPER............... 3.39
BELL 4NW............. 4.79
BEAUCLERC.............. 4.31 ORANGE SPRINGS 2SSW.. 3.10
PALM COAST NE........ 3.66
OCALA................ 3.38
STARKE............... 4.01
CRESCENT CITY........ 3.13
GLEN ST MARY......... 2.32
FERNANDINA BEACH..... 1.92
WHITE SPRINGS 7N..... 2.14
JUNIPER SPRINGS...... 2.60
SOUTHEAST GEORGIA...
BAXLEY 5NNW............ 3.93 WOODBINE............. 2.19
BRUNSWICK.............. 1.40 ST SIMONS ISLAND..... 1.80
HOMERVILLE 5N.......... 2.65 ALMA................. 2.97
PRIDGEN................ 4.17 PATTERSON............ 2.08
WAYCROSS 4NE........... 2.44 MANOR................ 2.96
NAHUNTA 6NE............ 2.75 HAZLEHURST........... 4.24
FARGO 17NE............. 2.41
As we turn to Jan., below are the avg's for JIA in what is climatologically the coldest month of the yr., but the days start to get longer(!):
In our Jan. skies courtesty NOAA -- click here for info. & a video:
It's easy and fun to find planets when they're next to the moon.....
Saturn is visible in the southeastern dawn sky near Virgo's bright white star Spica and the moon on the fifth. And to the left of the moon on the sixth....
On the 10th, Venus will be next to the crescent moon before dawn.....
In the evening sky, catch red Mars low to the horizon. You'll find it to the left of the slender crescent moon on the 12th....
Look the next night and you'll see the crescent moon is bigger and above Mars......
Jupiter continues to reign supreme this month. So try to join a local star party to see its amazing details through a telescope.....
You won't need a telescope to see some close encounters with the moon and Jupiter this month........
In the early evening of Jan. 10, you'll find Jupiter below the Pleiades, halfway up in the eastern sky. Then, between Jan. 20 and 23, you'll see ........the moon pass from Jupiter's right to its left. They are less than 1 degree apart on the evening of the 21st....
Look at 8 p.m. Pacific or 11 p.m. Eastern to see this close pairing....
Meanwhile, you can also find where NASA's Juno, Dawn and even the Voyager spacecraft are against the constellations.....
Check out the cool photo sent to me by Andre Cruz on the W'side of Jax - the Christmas night moon at the bottom, Jupiter at the top + 2 of its satellites -- Ganimede & Callisto.
NOAA -- as of Dec. 20th -- has determined that there were 11 one billion dollar weather events in 2012 (click here for more info. + links to each disaster):
** Southeast/Ohio Valley Tornadoes — March 2–3 2012
** Texas Tornadoes — April 2–3 2012
** Great Plains Tornadoes — April 13–14 2012
** Midwest/Ohio Valley Severe Weather — April 28–May 1 2012
** Southern Plains/Midwest/Northeast Severe Weather — May 25–30 2012
** Rockies/Southwest Severe Weather — June 6–12 2012
** Plains/East/Northeast Severe Weather (“Derecho”) — June 29–July 2 2012
** Hurricane Isaac — August 26–31 2012
** Western Wildfires — Summer–Fall, 2012
** Hurricane Sandy — October 29–31 2012
** U.S. Drought/Heatwave — throughout 2012
