At 4:21 a.m. Saturday morning the sun will be directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5º south of the equator. That marks the beginning of official astronomical winter for us here in the Northern Hemisphere. The seasons exist as a result of the Earth's tilt since the planet isn't oriented directly up and down with respect to the sun.
This graphic (courtesy of timeanddate.com) illustrates, with the sun located to the left of Earth in this setup:
Today - Friday - conditions around Mecklenburg county will begin to feel like winter. The county is sandwiched between two low pressure centers, one of which is a coastal storm taking shape off Cape Hatteras. The other is a fast-moving disturbance to the northwest, better known as an "Alberta Clipper".
Breezes will be out of the north today thanks to counter-clockwise wind circulation around that coastal storm. Under mostly cloudy skies temperatures will slowly climb from this morning's readings near 40 degrees to an afternoon high in the mid-40s. There may be a stray shower or two this afternoon, but today will remain mostly dry.
Both Saturday and Sunday will feature clear skies, but the Arctic air filtering in behind the clipper system will make those layers of winter clothing feel good. Afternoon highs on Saturday will reach the mid-40s, accompanied by a northerly breeze which will create wind chills several degrees lower. Meanwhile, thermometers on Sunday will struggle to reach the upper 30s after frigid morning lows in the teens(!).
The good news? After another very chilly day on Monday Christmas week will warm to more average December temperatures.
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