No Arctic Air For You

What a complete and thorough dominating performance last evening by the Philly Catholic League entry into the AAA state finals in football.  In what amounted to an assiduous dismantling of the Bishop McDevitt Crusaders, the Vikings were clearly the superior team.  This assemblage of young football players are most likely the best in the state of PA!  Their speed from what I've observed is second to none.  Precise execution with an air of confidence exudes from this football team.  PA high school football most certainly has some talented individuals and many knowledgeable staffs that meld these young players into good teams.  In fact as rumor had it, one Urban Meyer was an eye witness to the thrashing that was unleashed last evening at the "Concrete Palace".  With Penn State football in sudden disarray and turmoil, already unable and unwilling to recruit the best from PA, it's only a matter of a few short seasons until The Ohio State University will dominate Big Ten football play as coach Meyer already knows where to seek outstanding talent that can play in the "cold" climates of the geographical locales of Big Ten country.  Congrats to both AAA finalists; but well deserved kudos and most sincere accolades for a conquering performance from the Archbishop Wood Vikings in their quest for their AAA football title.  This team is most likely the best in the state of PA!

As for the weather, there is NO ARCTIC AIR in sight that will be affecting PA by the end of the December.  Oh, we will still have bouts of cold, but no true Arctic origin air will invade PA for the foreseeable future.  Pesky shots of marginally cold air will attack PA, but our "mild" December will last well into January.  The map below shows the main trough will be in the east allowing for a small opportunity for snow to fall on/about Christmas, but with pacific air as the source region, the odds of us seeing any true snowstorms by next Sunday are minimal at best!

As long as there is cold over Greenland, any shot of "cold' and I use that term loosely, will be transient in nature.  That trough will pass and above normal temps will once again envelope the nation east of the Mississippi.  This +NAO and +AO does not bode well for lovers of winter wx!  Look at that 7 day running mean anomaly map for North America.  This will give the global warming people something to shout about!  This map is for the 7 day period ending this upcoming Wednesday.

And then the next week's period!  Uuugh!  20+ºF above for a large chunk of O Canada from the ensembles from 2 weeks out!  That's unheard of....well not really, but its waaaay above normal.  i guess the Calgary Flames will be the Calgary Flames this end of December!

This might not be a scene being played out on the ponds of Alberta with this type of winter weather being experienced at present.

As far as the numerical modeling can project, we are looking at a "not-so-hard-to-take" period of winter weather as the 384 hour anomalies are "mild" as well!  Again, the source region of air is the Pacific and not the Arctic.  Yes, a mean trough in the east, but with Pacific air spells temps in the 40s here for daytime maxes in the sub tropics of southern PA!  The ice might get a tad soft at the NHL  Winter Classic this year in Philly!  Oh well....

Here are the Super Ensembles and their comparisons to past synoptic set ups.  This is centered on Christmas Day.  Certainly, a trough exists in the eastern part of North America. 

But then I placed those December and January years into the data base and kicked out the following temps for the US.  The output from the data set doesn't look too cold now...does it?  I guess that makes me happy with propane at $2.19 delivered!

Let's hope the CD Rams play this "hot" tonight!  Good luck Central Dauphin in your quest to earn the AAAA PIAA football title for 2011!

Enjoy the week's end!

Smitty

AA:  No arctic air in sight!  Archbishop Wood is a solid high school football team, maybe the best the state of PA and many states in the country!  Go Rams!