Another sign of winter in the Fredericksburg region is much dryer air as represented by the dew point readings.  Summertime stickiness occurs when the dew point climbs above 60 degrees (F), with readings above 70 usually described as oppressive.  Winter is a different story as seen in this morning’s mid-20′s dew point reading at Shannon Airport.  Since the air temperature doesn’t drop below the dew point lower dew points allow for colder temperatures, and this morning’s low was 27 degrees at Shannon.  Of course dryer air also leads to an increased potential for static electricity so expect to get zapped more often.

The high clouds we see this morning are courtesy of a weak upper level disturbance well to our south.  These clouds will move out of our area this evening.  This week’s weather will be relatively well-behaved with partly to mostly sunny skies and high temperatures starting in the upper 40′s today (Monday) and rising into the upper 50′s ahead of a cold front passage Thursday night.  We will have a slight chance of showers Thursday night into Friday, but this front will mainly be a boundary behind which we’ll cool off back into the upper 40′s for next weekend.  When will we have really cold air?  Not for at least another 10 days or so…and maybe not even then.