Another Cold Morning Then Wind And Sprinkles For Christmas

It is another cold morning down here close to the Rillito wash - low has not occurred yet but it is upper 20s out there now. Edited to add - morning low here was 21 F, which ties with November 24th as the coldest two mornings of the winter so far. We have had six consecutive mornings with lows of 30 F and below. It looks like cold period will continue into the new year. Long-range forecasts have a strong and very cold weather system affecting southern Arizona out somewhere around New Year's Day.

The early run of the WRF-NAM at Atmo this morning continues to forecast a windy day for Christmas here in southeast Arizona. The 10-m wind forecast above is valid at 1 pm MST tomorrow afternoon. The NWS has issued a wind advisory for Christmas Day for the area shaded in brown on graphic below. I've added details of the NWS advisory that includes an explanation of what this product means here in southeast Arizona.

* WINDS...SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND
  45 MPH WILL OCCUR OVER THE LOWER ELEVATIONS...WITH WIND SPEEDS
  OF 35 TO 45 MPH OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS WITH GUSTS TO NEAR
  55 MPH.

* FOR A DETAILED VIEW OF THE HAZARD AREA...VISIT
  WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON AND CLICK ON THE DETAILED HAZARDS TAB

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 MPH OR GREATER
ARE EXPECTED IN THE VALLEYS...OR 35 MPH OR GREATER ABOVE
5000 FEET. HIGHER GUSTS ARE ALSO LIKELY. THIS COULD MAKE DRIVING
DIFFICULT...ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA
CAUTION.

The WRF-NAM continues to forecast light showers with the Pacific cold front tomorrow also. The composite radar forecast below is valid at 6 pm MST. The model forecasts best snow accumulations will occur over the higher elevations of the Chiricahua Sky Island.