Coldest weekend in more than 300 days; no white Christmas in NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Bundle up. Winter has rolled into the Triangle full throttle! Temperatures in central North Carolina will be in the 40s for highs making it some of the coldest so far.

That's because of a northerly flow which has allowed for much cooler air to enter the region and in the last 12 hours the temperature has dropped 20 degrees. The East Coast will be cold and dry as high pressure pushes into the Northeast from southern Ontario.

Sunday night temperatures will be in the low 20s, approaching the teens!

Looking Ahead

By Christmas Eve, temperatures will rise and return to seasonable. While the Triangle looks fairly dry during this stretch, models indicate that there will be a coastal low spinning up off the southeast coast on Tuesday.

The GFS has been showing this for several runs, spinning up a corridor of rain from Charleston to Norfolk, holding just east of Raleigh.

Christmas Day should be rather typical with high temperatures in the low 50s and lows in the mid-30s and dry weather. With mild temperatures and dry weather, we're unsurprisingly expected to contribute to the ever-growing count of non-snowy Christmases in the Triangle.

Conditions should be near ideal for anyone traveling on Christmas Day itself. At the end of the week, a mid-level ridging pattern sets up with a series of shortwaves tumbling through the area. There is still a fairly big discrepancy between models with the amount of moisture and timing of the troughs for any mid-to-late week precipitation.

There is better consensus of a rain event next weekend which could generate some difficult travel for those post-holiday travelers.

Have a great day!

Steve Stewart