New Year's Eve Forecast

A low pressure storm system currently moving out of the Plains will bring an opportunity for rain showers to Central Virginia starting after Midnight tonight, through Thursday, and into early New Year's Day. Over the past 24 hours (through 8:30 a.m. Wednesday), you can see the progress of the storm from the Southern Plains heading into the Midwest:

Snowfall in the Plains and Midwest has been relatively minor, only a couple inches being reported in the region. Across the Southeast, up to an inch of rainfall accumulation will be possible. Once the system reaches the Commonwealth, it appears that precipitation will fall in the form of rain, but with temperatures expected to be at or below freezing for the western half of the state there will be a period of freezing rain Thursday morning that may lead to slick spots. Rain totals should be low in our area, generally less than a quarter inch. For New Year's Eve around Midnight, rain chances will be very low, with temperatures in the 30's.

We are still on track for an extended period of much colder weather the first week of 2010 as persistent Northwest flow keeps Canadian air flowing into the Mid-Atlantic.

Windy Start To 2010

After our next storm system moves through New Year's Eve and Day, the low will park itself over coastal New England for the first few days of 2010 with a tight pressure gradient from New England to the Mid-Atlantic.

This will mean a couple blustery days on January 2nd and 3rd, with afternoon wind chills in the low-20's and teens as air temperatures rise only into the mid-30's. Colder air will be advected from Canada across the Great Lakes, over the mountains into Virginia. It looks like our below-average temperatures that started Monday will last through much of next week as well!

Record Wet December

After the holiday rain, our December 2009 precipitation tally rose to the top spot, becoming the wettest December on record at Richmond International Airport. This is on the heels of our wettest November in the books, thus making this the wettest end to a year ever for Richmond. We may add to this total on New Year's Eve as an approaching storm system currently moving into the Southern Plains brings rain into Central Virginia Thursday. The first day of 2010 might be a white one, with snow showers possible on the backside of the exiting low. However, because that system will be moving quickly to the northeast away from us, snow accumulations, if any, are expected to be minor in the area.
Here is a movie of the anticipated precipitation associated with this storm system: