Near Record Warmth

Our forecasted high of 64 degrees in Central Park was reached at one o'clock this afternoon. That's plenty warm for late-November but falls short of the 1896 record of 72 degrees. Fear not, fans of record-breaking warmth, the National Weather Service is currently predicting that we will tie Friday's record high of 69. The Weather Channel isn't quite so optimistic, calling for a high of "only" 63 on Friday.

In between today and Friday we've got a mess of a forecast. It's the forecast itself that is messy, not so much the weather. Because we are in the belt of winds known as the mid-latitude westerlies we normally don't get high or low pressure systems approaching from the east. This week, however, there's a high pressure system moving southward through northern New England and out to sea. Since air circulates clockwise around a high, we're going to be treated to easterly winds off the Atlantic and Long Island Sound. If you want to impress your friends with your meteorological knowledge, this is known as a backdoor cold front.

The backdoor front is going to hold down our temperatures to the upper-50s tomorrow and Wednesday. That's still nearly ten degrees above average. Clouds will build in and we may see a bit of drizzle starting tomorrow night. A warm front should kick the cooler air out on Thursday and we'll return to the 60s for a couple of rainy days. The extreme warmth will be short-lived as a real cold front looks like it will be bringing clear, cool air for the weekend.

Current temperature map from the Weather Channel via USA Today.