Today: Sunny, with a high near 50, low around 35.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Overnight, mostly cloudy, with a low around 36.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 53 and a 50 percent chance of showers. Overnight, mostly cloudy, with a low around 38.
Christmas Eve: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 49. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Overnight, a 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34.
Christmas Day: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Overnight, mostly cloudy, with a low around 31.
This weekend, Hall County dodged the wintry precipitation that left much of the East socked in under several inches — or several feet in some areas — of snow, but do we have any chance of a white Christmas?
Keep dreaming.
Snow doesn’t look very likely for the end of the week, but we’re sure to see more rain on Christmas Eve, according to a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City.
Rain moves into the forecast Wednesday night, with a 50 percent chance, said meteorologist Jessica Fieux. The chance of showers increases to 60 percent by Thursday. The rain chance will taper off by Christmas Day, which looks to be a mild 51 degrees, Fieux said.
Temperatures should be a seasonal 51 degrees today, the first day of winter and shortest day of the year, Fieux said. With sunrise at 7:39 a.m. and sunset at 5:33 p.m., you’ll have just under 10 hours of daylight to wrap up that Christmas shopping today. Today also is the winter solstice, the day when the Earth’s axis tilts the farthest from the sun. That’s what makes for the short number of daylight hours.
In the longer term forecast, El Nino will be dominate during the winter, according to the U.S. Climate Prediction Center. The expectation is for a greater chance of a winter that is cooler than average and drier than average — perhaps good news for a region that was soaked by a rainy autumn.