A reinforcing shot of cold air is on the way for Thursday with highs in the upper 20's. This may be accompanied by a few flurries, but the cold air will be short lived. A warming trend is likely Friday into Saturday, and the warm, snow-less winter marches on.
A split jet stream pattern is in place across the country. The southern jet stream develops Gulf Coast storms and marches them towards the east coast. These have been too far south to affect the area and the jet cuts off the Gulf Of Mexico moisture. The northern jet stream has pulled north into Canada, in a pattern that was similar to last winter's. This jet will occasionally drop moisture starved troughs into the area that will do little but deliver brief shots of cold air.
The area has seen 0.9 inches of snowfall so far this season. On average, 10.6 inches should have fallen by now, meaning Aurora has seen under 9% of its normal snowfall. With no measurable snowfall in sight for the next 7 days, some more records are likely to fall. January 1st was the first day of the winter season that failed to reach 32 degrees. This tied a record for the latest sub-freezing high temperature set back in 1924. The area also saw 310 consecutive days without a sub-freezing high temperature. This broke the record of 308 days set back in 1878! These statistics were compiled from National Weather Service data.
A warming pattern looks to be in store for next week. The European model suggest near record warmth with highs soaring into the 50's. It is still early though, so nothing is set in stone.
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