Good morning and welcome to the second week of December! We’ve started out the month with a string of beautiful days and nights. Our quiet weather will continue for much of this work week before we return to a more active pattern. This morning skies are mainly clear across most of Texas – although there are a few clouds across West Texas. Shallow fog is impacting parts of East Texas this morning but should burn off after sunrise. Otherwise no weather hazards are expected today with light winds and sunny skies. Temperatures will be above average for December with the entire state climbing into the mid 60s to mid 70s. Enjoy the warmer weather because we’ll be cooling off for the second half of December.

For tonight temperatures will fall back into the low and mid 30s across the Texas Panhandle, South Plains, and higher elevations in Southwest Texas. 40s will be common across Central Texas into the piney woods of East Texas. South Texas and the immediate coast should be in the upper 40s to low 50s tonight.

The upper air pattern across the United States will undergo a big change later this week. The jetstream, which has been confined to the northern plains, will dip back south bringing a variety of weather with it. THe Pacific Northwest into California will have several precipitation events wiht parts of Washington State getting two feet of rain (or much more snow in the mountains) over the coming week. Our weather here in Texas will remain fairly calm through Friday by which point increasing moisture will result in more clouds. On Saturday we’ll have to watch for increasing thunderstorm chances along and east of Interstate 35 – although the ‘thunderstorm zone’ will certainly change as the forecast is refined.

Uncertainty remains high thus specifics remain low – but there could be a severe weather threat on Saturday in parts of North Texas, Northeast Texas, East Texas, and more locations depending on how things set up. We’ll have to watch for this potential as we get closer to the weekend. Likewise the colder side of the system could bring snow to the Texas Panhandle. The pattern continues to look active next week and for the second half of December. Like I said – enjoy the quiet/warm weather while you can.