Where is winter?

I'm starting to hear a few complaints from the winter-lovers, especially the people who are anxious to start wearing their heavier clothes and who think it's impossible to talk about Christmas when it's 70 degrees out there.

I'd be happy to have 80 degrees on Christmas, but I realize my opinion is in the minority.

So where is the chilly weather?

First, it's not unusual to have 70-degree-plus conditions in late November. The same thing happened last year, and we had a string of near-80-degree days a few years ago around the beginning of December.

Last year, the warm weather ended abruptly with a cold front that arrived late Dec. 1. From Dec. 2 until Valentine's Day, with a few exceptions, conditions in the Charlotte region were quite cold.

Almost like clockwork, much cooler air is on the way. It will arrive early Tuesday, and our high temperatures for a few days will only be in the 50s. It won't be quite as brutal a change as last year, when daytime highs were held to the upper 30s and 40s for a couple weeks. But it is a change worth noting.

Yet I don't see a complete change to below-average temperatures, through the middle of December. The Climate Prediction Center, computer models, and private meteorological services seem to indicate that, on average, temperatures will be about average. A few cold snaps, lasting two or three days, are likely.

But an abrupt change to mid-winter conditions does not appear in the offing for a while.