WINTER ARRIVES TODAY; FORECAST CALLS FOR AVERAGE TEMPERATURES

Winter's debut today will be on the warm and wet side, but that's better than the bitter cold temperatures that heralded arrival of the winter solstices in 1989 and 1990.

Forecasters say today will be wet and dreary, with little, if any, sunshine. Rainfall amounts are not expected to be heavy.

The National Weather Service says the chances of a white Christmas this year are even less than average. Forecasters said the 6-10 day outlook, through Christmas week, indicates temperatures and precipitation will average above seasonal normals.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service's 30-day outlook through mid-January calls for above normal temperatures and precipitation during what is traditionally the coldest time of the year in the Cape Girardeau area.

The shortest day of the year, which is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, occurred at 2:54 this morning. That's when the position of the sun was 23 degrees south of the equator, over South America.

Since the first day of fall, in late September, the days have been getting shorter as the sun has been rising and setting lower in the southern sky.

After today, the amount of daylight here will increase each day by a minute or two until the first day of summer, next June.

For those who wonder why some people use Dec. 1 as the start of winter, while the calendar lists the first day of winter on Dec. 22, here's the explanation.

National Weather Service meteorologists and climatologists have split the four seasons spring, summer, fall and winter into four, 90-day segments. For example, winter begins Dec. 1 and ends on the last day of February. Spring begins on March 1 and ends on May 31.

The solar calender, on the other hand, relies on the position of the sun in relation to the Earth to indicate the beginning and end of the seasons, which is why they occur in the middle or latter part of a month.

Many people also question why the coldest time of the year here traditionally occurs between mid-January and early February. Al Robertson, professor of earth science and climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University, said that's due to the time lag caused by the slow cooling of the earth and large bodies of water during fall and early December.

The same is true in summer. The warmest days of the year in the Cape Girardeau area traditionally come not in late June, but in mid-July, after the land, water, and air have been warmed by the sun as it rises higher and earlier each day.

Despite some cold temperatures earlier this month, including 17 degrees on Dec. 4, Robertson said the average temperature for the first 18 days of December was 42.2 degrees, 4.1 degrees above the long-term average of 38.1 degrees. "That's because of the relatively mild overnight lows we've had during the period," Robertson said.

On nine consecutive days (Dec.6-14) the daily high was at or above 50 degrees, including 65 degrees on Dec. 12-13. The average daily high this time of the year is in the mid-40s, and the average daily low is in the mid-20s, Robertson said.

The mild temperatures this month are in sharp contrast to the bitter cold weather that occurred in late December 1989 and 1990.

According to Missourian weather records, the morning low on Dec. 22, 1990 was 11 degrees. On Christmas Eve morning, it dropped to 8 degrees. By Christmas Day, there were several inches of snow on the ground.

But even those temperatures were comparatively mild to the bitter cold wave that gripped the area from Dec. 12-26, 1989.

During that period, lows were in the teens and single digits. On four consecutive mornings (Dec. 20-23), all-time daily record lows were set, including minus 4 degrees on Dec. 20, minus 7 degrees on Dec. 21, minus 11 degrees on Dec. 22, and minus 9 degrees on Dec. 23. The morning low on Dec. 24 was zero, but it wasn't a record.

And, to add an extra touch to the cold weather that year, there was also a trace of snow on the ground.

Fortunately, the arctic cold didn't last long. By Dec. 27, the high was back in the 50s, where it remained the rest of the month.

So far this fall, the coldest morning here was on Nov. 9, when the mercury dipped to 12 degrees.