Thanksgiving Climatology

Every year the weather is different for Thanksgiving. Sometimes it can be warm and stormy and sometimes it can be downright cold! But what is it usually like and what will it be like this year?

In the last 10 years we’ve been very fortunate to see relatively mundane weather for Thanksgiving day. Typically Thanksgiving falls within the first peak of severe weather for Mississippi. Just last year we had a major severe weather outbreak just 5 days after the thanksgiving bringing 56 confirmed tornadoes across the southeast. But for this beloved holiday we have been spared any major outbreaks in the last 10 years. In fact for Columbus and Tupelo, there have only been 2 years with measurable precipitation in the last 10 years, 2007 and 2010. Even then, the accumulation was relatively minimal seeing less than 3 tenths of an inch of rain.

Generally temperatures have stayed in the 50s and 60s, but there have been a few exceptions. 2010 was a warm year. Temperatures soared into the upper 70s as warm air surged in from the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly there after, a cold front pushed through bringing a few heavy downpours to the area, but not much rain fell in Columbus or Tupelo.

2013 was the opposite. We were cold and dry, influenced by high pressure from Canada. Temperatures only climbed into the 40s in Tupelo and Columbus during the day and dropped into the teens and upper 20s overnight. For some areas this was the coldest air ever recorded in the month of November.

What about this year? Well, the pattern of mundane weather continues. We will see highs in the mid 50s with plenty of sunshine across the southeast and much of the US as well so travel worries will be minimal. For more on this years Thanksgiving forecast check out Jacob Dickey’s forecast here.

Categories: Local News, Weather

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