Happy perihelion! At 9:17 EST this morning the Earth, in its not quite circular orbit, was only 91.4 million miles away from the sun, the closest we get all year. That distance will increase by a few thousand miles each day until we are 94.5 million miles away on July 3rd. A change of three million miles may seem like a lot, but it doesn't much affect our day-to-day weather. However, the dates when the perihelion and aphelion happen slowly move backwards over time, in 11,000 years perihelion will be in July, and that cycle contributes to the waxing and waning of the Ice Ages.
Perihelion aside, today is starting out warm, but that warmth will come to a quick end in a few hours. A strong cold front will pass through the city early this afternoon. Before the front arrives we could see a high in the lower to mid 50s. Behind the front it is going to get very windy and much colder. Look for winds gusting up to 30-40 mph later today with the temperature dropping to the mid 20s overnight.
Skies will clear up overnight, so Thursday will at least start off with a bit of sun. It will start to get cloudy late tomorrow afternoon and we may see up to an inch of snow Thursday night or Friday morning as a coastal low passes well to our southeast.
The cold air will be reinforced this weekend by another low passing well to our southeast on Saturday and a dip in the jet stream. Friday may warm to the mid 30s, but highs are expected to only reach the upper 20s, with lows dipping to near 20 or into the teens from Saturday through Monday.
