Jennifer Edwards Baker reports:
We will be thankful for the weather this week as we drive to Grandmother’s house, carve our turkey and delve into the pumpkin pie.
The forecast calls for a nice stretch of warm, sunny days through the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.
Daytime highs will be in the low 60s and upper 50s due a high pressure system moving in from the east, combined with a southerly flow of warm air, said meteorologist John Franks with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
“At least through Thanksgiving we should be high and dry,” he said.
Today’s temperature is expected to soar to 62 degrees, nearly 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. It will be partly sunny.
Overnight lows typically fall in the mid-30s, and we will stick close to that and even push into the low 40s.
Thanksgiving Day will be sunny with a high of 62. It will be mostly cloudy overnight with a low of 42 as Black Friday shoppers hit stores across the region for the best sales.
The record high for Thanksgiving Day in Greater Cincinnati stands at 71 degrees in 1896, said meteorologist Mike Kurz.
More recently, we hit 63 degrees on Turkey Day in 2010.
But not last year. It was only 47.
Overall, the mercury has reached the 60s some 22 times on Thanksgiving Day since the weather service began keeping such records in the 1800s, Kurz said.
Later Friday, rain is expected. The high temperature will be more sesasonal, hovering in the mid-50s.
By Saturday, the mercury will fall into the 40s with overnight lows in the low 30s and upper 20s.
That string of cooler weather will stick around through next week.
Looking ahead to winter, there are no indications so far if temperatures will be colder or milder than normal, Kurz said. The average daytime winter temperature runs about 41 degrees with overnight lows hitting about 25.
The main indicator climate scientists use to forecast winter weather is the strength of El Nino or La Nina, climate patterns that affect weather around the world. El Nino is typically warm water in the tropical Pacific Ocean. La Nina is cooler-than-normal water in the Pacific.
This year, however, none of those have developed, Kurz said.
Precipitation is expected be above normal, mainly for Northern Kentucky and counties along the Ohio River such as Hamilton and Clermont, he said. Whether that precipitation is snow or rain or a wintry mix will depend on the temperatures.
2011 was the 13th warmest winter on record for Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and 6th least snowiest ever, with just 3.7 inches recorded at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
On average, 17.8 inches of snow falls during December, January and February.
