Joyful carols fill the air and the car heat blasts, defrosting frozen fingers and windshields alike in the morning; winter’s in the air. It is almost impossible to deny: everyone is beginning to dream of a white Christmas. According to Fox 2 Chief Meteorologist Dave Murray, this wish may just come true. In his Winter Forecast, he predicts that although it may not snow on Christmas, there will be snow on the ground on this holiday. This means that many will get a chance to relive some of their favorite holiday memories.
“I remember going down to Main Street and it was snowing and all the Santas were there,” sophomore Emily Gast said, “It was so pretty and there were horses and it was just fun.”
Last winter was incredibly mild with hardly any snowfall. The district only called off school one day because of snow, and all evidence of this snow melted away by that afternoon. This is quite a contrast to the previous winter, now two years ago, when snow came down in buckets resulting in excessive snow days.
“Last winter we just got caught up in a pattern,” Murray said, “The cold air was locked to the north and other than a few pushes to the south it stayed locked to the north. Moisture was also hard to come by, with a weak southern storm track. Many times patterns get locked in and are hard to break down, which is what happened.”
Start getting out the coats and gloves and buy some hot chocolate because this winter snowfall should accumulate to about 19 inches, which is considered average for St. Louis. As for the fastly approaching month of December, Murray predicts it will bring temperature swings with a rough average amount of snow and rain fall. Predicting the winter weather is a yearlong process in which Murray has to look at many different factors.
“I focus on ocean temperatures and trends of those temperatures,” Murray said, “Also, analog years, you study the existing pattern and then go back in time to find that pattern and then see what it produced for the weather. I look at the solar cycle, where we are in it and how strong or weak and, also, volcanic activity around the world.”
If the weather plays out as Murray predicts it will, the Francis Howell School district could be in for some snow days. For some this is something to be grateful for, as their snow days will be spent sleeping in, sledding, and sipping hot cocoa by the fireplace. Others find having days off to be bittersweet.
“Snow days are nice when they happen,” senior Ben Marshak said, “but everyone regrets them later because they’d rather get out of school sooner.”
