Sunshine returns leading up to Christmas

MACON, Georgia. (41NBC/WMGT) – With the gulf low now away from the Georgia coast, the skies have cleared out.

Today

The sun was back in all its glory this morning as it rose over the horizon. There were no clouds to block the sunrise this time. Sunglasses will be a necessity the next two days with clear skies likely to hang around until Friday. Both today and tomorrow will be on the cooler side of things, however, largely due to northerly winds that will stick around until tomorrow morning. For this afternoon our highs will reach the upper 50s and lower 60s around Middle GA. The wind will most certainly make itself felt today though, blowing at 10-15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph out of the northwest. That will keep a bit of a wintry chill in the air.

Overnight tonight things will get very cold. Clear skies overhead means no insulation of the earths surface to retain heat from the daytime. Combined with northerly winds at 5-10 mph, temperatures will bottom out either at or below freezing all around Middle GA. You’ll want to make sure to layer up out the door!

Tomorrow

For the second sunny day in a row things will stay cool. In fact, it will overall be a cooler day than Wednesday as highs will range from 56-59 degrees across the region. The wind will shift from the northeast in the morning to the southeast by the mid-afternoon. The effects of this will not be felt until Friday, however.

Overnight conditions will still be rather chilly as low temperatures drop to around the freezing point. A few clouds may fill in overnight heading into Christmas Eve, but other than that there will be no noticeable impacts due to the wind change before Friday.

Christmas Eve

With the wind now blowing out of the southeast, more cloud cover will begin to fill in and high temperatures will begin to jump, reaching all the way into the mid to upper 60s. The day will begin mostly clear, but scattered clouds will fill in during the middle of the day giving us partly cloudy skies. There is no chance of rain on Christmas Eve. Heading into Christmas our skies will see a bit more cloud cover develop as low temperatures jump from the low 30s on Friday morning to the upper 40s and lower 50s by Christmas morning.

Christmas

It’s going to be a brown Christmas in Middle GA this year, aka a mix of sun and clouds with plenty of warmth and no rain. Highs will check into the low to mid 70s around the region as southwesterly winds blow at 15-20 mph gusting upwards of 30. The blustery conditions could make outdoor photoshoots for the holiday a bit difficult! The skies will see a mix of sun and clouds overall, but by sunset expect more clouds than sun.

Follow Meteorologist Aaron Lowery on Facebook (Aaron Lowery 41NBC) and Twitter (@ALowWX) for weather updates throughout the day. Also, you can watch his forecasts Monday through Friday on 41NBC News at Daybreak (6-7 a.m.) and 41Today (11 a.m).