Cold Front Today

A cold front is moving into the state early Monday morning, and will bring cooler temperatures today and linger much of this week. Sunday's high temperature was 53 degrees in Richmond, but today's high will be around 44 degrees as a result of the cooler air moving in behind the front. Here are the surface readings before 6 a.m., and you can see where the front is in north-central and western Virginia with the winds shifting to the West-Northwest:
Winds are gusty behind the front, and I expect those gusts to filter into Central Virginia this afternoon, with sustained winds in the 10-20mph range. The ** symbol indicates snow showers on the western slopes of the mountains, but this front will be dry as it passes through the rest of the state today. Our next chance of precipitation will be New Year's Eve, and will likely fall in the form of rain only. There is the potential for a brief period of a winter mix early Thursday morning before changing over to all rain, but there is also a slight chance for wintry weather on New Year's Day as colder air moves in from the Northwest. If any precipitation falls Friday, a winter mix early morning may change over to light snow. If the track of either of these systems shifts, though, this will greatly influence the precipitation type, if any, we receive. We'll be providing updates through the week!