DELMARVA FORECAST
Tuesday night: Partly cloudy. Winds from the southwest at 5 to 10 mph. Lows in the mid to upper 30s.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny and breezy. Northwest winds at 10 to 15 mph, gusting to 25 mph at times. Highs around 50°F.
Christmas Day: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers in the morning. Breezy. Highs in the low 50s. Chance of rain 40 percent.
Friday: Mostly cloudy with rain in the afternoon and evening, possibly with wintry mix or sleet, especially north. Highs around 40°F. Chance of precipitation 90 percent.
Saturday: Rain or wintry mix early, then mostly cloudy. Highs in the upper 40s. Chance of rain 40 percent.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy with scattered afternoon showers. Highs in the mid 50s. Chance of rain 30 percent.
Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 40s.
FORECAST DISCUSSION
Normal high: 48°F. Normal low: 30°F.
An impulse of energy in northwesterly flow brought some rain showers early on Tuesday. With a warm front to the north, temperatures have been seasonable under mostly cloudy skies.
A cold front will swing across Delmarva Tuesday night. The front won't bring colder, but it will bring drier air to Delmarva. Skies will gradually clear out by Wednesday morning, making for a mostly sunny and seasonable, albeit breezy, Christmas Eve.
Another impulse of energy approaches Christmas morning. Temperatures are expected to remain warm enough that this should all be just plain rain showers, with afternoon highs climbing to near 50°F.
The big headline for the rest of this week will arrive on Friday afternoon as yet another impulse of energy brings more widespread precipitation to Delmarva Friday afternoon through Saturday morning. Temperatures have been trending colder for Friday, so confidence is slowly growing that we will see some wintry weather on Delmarva. At this point we're not expecting accumulating snowfall, but we could see some minor accumulations of sleet through Saturday morning, which could make for some difficult travel.
We'll briefly clear out Saturday night before another round of plain rain showers Sunday evening.
In the long range, temperatures are expected to average near normal, and precipitation below normal for December 30 - January 5.