A very stubborn ridge of high pressure will keep us dry and warm through the rest of the week (and the rest of the year, for that matter.) Skies will alternate between clear, partly and mostly cloudy through the week, with no real chance of getting anything substantial out of any of the clouds that do pass through the region. High temperatures will be in the 50s throughout the next week.

Al had the following question: “With all this cold weather I have noticed that apparently sound travels farther. Because the air molecules are closer together, does sound travel faster also?”

Let’s first examine your premise: Sound doesn’t necessarily travel farther in cold air. The distance sound carries has more to do with the amount of wind and the terrain. Actually, sound travels faster in warm air than cold air. The warmer the air, the more often air molecules bump into each other (because they are generally moving quicker). The warmer air transmits a sonic pulse from one molecule to another faster as well. The speed of sound increases about .6 meters per second for every degree C rise in temperature above 0.