I sincerely hope all of you had a great and happy Christmas. We all enjoyed a nice Christmas at our house. I guess the downside was that the kids took turns being sick through the holiday, but all in all, things went very well.

It is time to evaulate how things are going with our winter around here. Above average certainly fits the bill for our temps ever since the early-month cold snap. And, I think for the most part, the above average temps will continue for the next couple of weeks.

If you remember, in my winter forecast, I had the temp forecast in Charlotte for December slightly above average at +0.5 degrees. I feel I had the right idea, with some radical temp swings. But I had envisioned that we would be back in a colder pattern by the end of the month, and that simply won't happen. Right now, the departute from normal for CLT in December is running a bit above 2 degrees above average. We will probably finish somewhat close to 2 or 3 degrees above average for the month.

Now, I know it feels the times are getting desparate for lovers of snow and cold weather. However, take heart. Looking at the east Asia teleconnection, combined with some of the other teleconnection indices, I feel we will see a significant push of colder air around mid-January....probably between the 10th and the 15th. However, don't hold me to any details just yet....I am not completely ready to commit on a time-frame. But, the point of me saying this was to say to the fellow cold weather and snow lovers over the eastern U.S. "take a deep breath.....stay calm......and be patient. I think the pattern will start looking much better for the second half of January." However, between now and then, I think it is likely lights-out for any snow chances around here.

I will be the met for both the Charlotte and Triad markets Friday evening, so I will try to put some more thoughts on here sometime tomorrow evening. Have a good night!