Southwest Missourians have been enjoying record breaking warm temperatures these last several days. But how long will it last? KSMU’s Theresa tells us if, or when, winter weather might be headed our way.
Although it may seem unusually warm outside, Missourians must also remember it is unusually dry. Doug Cramer is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield. He says that a cold front will be moving into southwest Missouri, bringing some chance for much needed rain in the form of showers and possibly a thunderstorm.
“We’ve had very unusual weather, obviously, for the month of December. Any time you’re getting temperatures in the lower 70s it’s quite unusual for the Ozarks. But it does happen. And the reason for that is we’ve just had this continuous influx of air coming from the Gulf of Mexico that’s allowed us to be fairly warm over the last few days,” Cramer says.
Cramer says after this cold front moves through tonight, temperatures are expected to continue to be above normal with highs this week in the 60s and lows in the 40s.
“It’s looking fairly nice. Even though we have this cold front moving in there’s not a whole lot of cold air behind it. And that’s because this cold front comes from the Pacific Ocean rather than Canada,” says Cramer.
The Springfield area is behind on rainfall for the season. Cramer points out that for the calendar year the region has a rainfall deficit of over a foot. He adds another cold front will be coming in from Kansas as we near the weekend, bringing with it another chance for much needed rain. However, Cramer says temperatures will continue to remain average or above average for the near future.