Thanksgiving warmup might not materialize

I wrote earlier this week about forecasts that the two cold snaps -- this week's and the one coming next week -- would be followed by milder weather through the end of November.

Forget it.

Most of the long-range forecasts now show the rest of November, except for the next few days, as being chilly.  It probably won't be quite as cold, compared to average, as what we had earlier this week. But forecasters aren't hinting at shorts-and-T shirt weather for Thanksgiving.

We'll get a couple days of milder conditions, with highs in the 60s Saturday and Sunday and probably pushing 70 degrees Monday. But another strong high pressure system will push down from Canada early next week, and the Charlotte region will be back to chilly weather (daytime highs in the mid and upper 50s, lows around freezing) for the rest of the week.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is calling for a strong chance of below-average temperatures in the Southeast over the next 8 to 14 days. That forecast is echoed by a number of private meteorologists -- but not by everyone.

Forecasters at Accu-Weather earlier this week mentioned a chance of milder weather around Thanksgiving in the Southeast.

As WCNC-TV chief meteorologist Brad Panovich noted earlier this week, the cold weather in November could have an impact on long-term winter forecasts. Cold weather could help put down a heavy cover of snow in southern Canada and the northern part of the United States. If that happens, high pressure systems that push southward from Canada and the Arctic won't modify much.

And that would mean colder weather this winter in the Southeast.

We'll have to wait and see what happens over the next several weeks.