Meteorologically speaking, we are approaching the halfway point of winter (December 1st-February 28th). Such an easy winter, right? Very little snow and not much cold!!…..looks like we’re going to get off easy this year, right JR?!…..
Um, yeah…..sure……;o)
It’s true that some winters offer very little cold and snow (insert winter 2011-2012), this winter is not like that one. It’s an El Nino winter and they typically start slow and finish furiously. I think this will happen this winter. The pattern is already evolving to a colder regime and looking ahead, it looks as tho cold will lock into the eastern half of the United States for the remainder of January and continue through February as seen here by one of our computer models…
All those *warm colors* are regions of High Pressure which will re-direct cold air from northern Canada south into the eastern United States (that purple-ish blue shading details the cold). In terms, of snow…..it is likely we will see more snow in the second half of winter than the first (not really a Hot Take considering We haven’t see more than an inch here or there) but just how much more is a wildcard. In any event, the second half of winter opens up with two chances of some snow…
That first chance is slated for very late Thursday Night into Friday morning. It’s a weak system so perhaps some minor travel disruption for the Friday Morning commute…
The Sunday storm has more potential for major disruption but it being only Monday Night, details are few and far between. We do know there will be a storm heading this way very late Saturday evening and Sunday but the track of the storm is not known yet…
…As of this evening, it looks like two possibilities. The *red line* looks more likely (but not etched in stone). That would mean snow to start the storm but then changing to a mix of sleet, freezing rain and rain before ending as snow. #Messy. More on this in the coming days. In the meantime, here is a forecast I will guarentee….increasing daylight!
We stand to pick up about an hour of daylight over the next four weeks!
Enjoy the second half of winter!
~JR
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