No big chill

The chill won’t last, and forecast calls for warmer winter

Forecasters say winter cold snaps will be mild, brief.

Don’t get too attached to this cold front. The days of temps in the 70s and nights in the 50s will end Friday. And it could be the story of this winter, too.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center is calling for a drier and warmer than average December to February across the southern United States.

The prediction is based on the 55 to 65 percent chance that La Nina will develop before the winter.

“We’re definitely in the transition period from the wetter, warmer summer season to the cooler, drier winter season,” said Larry Kelly, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Miami-South Florida forecast office.

La Nina, characterized by colder than usual temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, brings colder and wetter conditions to the northern United States and warmer and drier conditions to the South.

Meanwhile, the disturbance in the Caribbean being monitored by the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday had a slightly smaller — 40 percent, down from 50 percent on Tuesday — chance of becoming a tropical cyclone.

If development does happen, it’s expected to be the weakest form of cyclone, a tropical depression, experts say.

Regardless of whether it forms or not, it’s likely to move north toward South Florida.

JOE CAVARETTA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Pompano Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguard Chuck Lowndes writes the temperature on a board at the beach. A cold front moved into South Florida Wednesday.