Fairly chilly and breezy today....

Above is today's edition of the video...

Highs today will be in the upper 40s and lower 50s today.....very close to average for late December. But when you account for the overall mild month as well as a brisk west wind that will be with us at times, it makes for a fairly chilly-feeling day.

We will round out the rest of 2011 in quiet fashion weather-wise with highs warming through the 50s....even some lower 60s possible this weekend.

Next week....

A big pattern amplification will take place next week and will drive what should easily be the coldest air so far this season into the region. In fact, on some modeling, this coming cold shot is pretty brutal in nature for the eastern US as a whole.

Now, I mentioned yesterday about the storm system the European model was brewing early next week. It maintained the system with its 12z run yesterday, and the Canadian jumped on board as well.

However, like I also mentioned, it was really threading a small needle to get to that solution, and it was the extreme and therefore fairly unlikely scenario.

With the 0z runs today, no model produces and significant winter precip for the Carolinas early next week as the storm system either doesn't form at all or forms well to the north.

Will it come back on future model runs? Possibly. But I kind of doubt it. It was unlikely in the first place.

However, the pattern for January still looks at least somewhat more favorable for winter weather lovers than December did, so hang in there.