The transition to milder to above normal weather is fully underway. Brisk winds accompany the warmup that will continue into next week

Windy warm up in the works. Thursday afternoon temps are up as much as 10° from Wednesday and 48 hours removed from wind-chills in the 20s.

Winds are shifting at the surface and aloft. The jet stream is “flattening”, and the cold air is retreating. Milder air will flood the state for the next few days. Temperatures could be as much as 5° to 10° above average late weekend and into early next week.

Look at these skies late Thursday. We have entered the cloudy season, Nov thru Feb. Days this bright will be harder to come by. November ranks 3rd cloudiest annually behind December and January.

Clouds will return on Friday and the milder flow of air sweeps across the Nation and into the eastern U.S. Rain chances however remain quite low. Sprinkles, patchy light rain may develop into early Saturday morning and again late Saturday as a weak wind shift late. The next ‘best’ chance of rain looks to arrive late Monday into early Tuesday morning.