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Northern Indiana residents should enjoy the next couple of days, because the long-range weather forecast calls for thermometers to take a plunge.
According to Kevin Barjenbruch, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, North Webster, the current balmy temperatures are "definitely unusual" for December.
"We're looking at highs probably around 60 today and tomorrow," he said this morning. "You can get these streaks of warm weather, like November '98."
The average high for Dec. 1 is 41 degrees, he said, and for Dec. 31 is 31 degrees.
Last month was the warmest November on record, with an average high of 48.5 degrees. The warmest day in Fort Wayne in November was 68 degrees on Nov. 15; the coolest November day was 25 degrees on Nov. 12.
In both Fort Wayne and South Bend, there was only a trace amount of snow in November, making it the least amount of snow ever recorded in either place, Barjenbruch said.
Weather records for fall, from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, in South Bend, show the eighth warmest fall on record, with an average temperature of 54.4 degrees, Barjenbruch said, and the ninth wettest, with 13.37 inches of rain.
For Fort Wayne, he said, it was the second warmest fall and the third wettest.
December 2000 was the record-setter, as both the coldest December since 1940 (average temperature 17.1 degrees) and the snowiest, with 44.6 inches of snow.
Barjenbruch said the 30-day outlook is for normal temperatures, which are usually in the 40s, into the lower 30s by the end of December.
The 90-day outlook calls for colder than normal temperatures and near normal precipitation, he said, "which would seem to favor a snowy winter."
