[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTr8CQQ8es&w=640&h=480]
WARMER AND STILL DRY: The benign pattern continues over the state through the rest of the work week with a slow warm up still forecast. Readings today will be in the upper 30s north where there is a little snow on the ground to the mid to upper 40s across the south with no snow. Skies will be mainly sunny across the state with more clouds to the north than south. Readings will warm a few degrees on Thursday nearing 50 in the southern counties and near 40 north, with a few more degrees of increase on Friday as well.
SATURDAY RAIN: The storm that will move in on Saturday looks to be more rain than anything now as the cold air really settles across MN and not into Iowa. There could be some mix across the northern counties but any snow would be very light and toward the end of the precipitation swath thus any accumulations will be little to none. This could change if we have enough cold air at or near the surface to bring more snow than rain, but it’s looking less likely as we near the system’s arrival.
DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS: Bing Crosby’s voice may be singing the song but the chances of their being one around here are looking less and less likely with this GFS Model Run. The storm this weekend will bring mainly rain. A weak disturbance on Monday could spit out a few snow showers or flurries but nothing will amount to any accumulation with that. One system will miss us to the south and southeast on the 22nd and 23rd (which could come this way on future runs so stay tuned). Outside of that it isn’t looking too promising for Bing Crosby’s famous song he sang to be actually true around here at this time.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE: The same GFS Model Run though on December 26th brings a possible snow storm across the state. This would bring significant snow if this pans out, but again we’ve seen about everything out two weeks in advance so confidence with this isn’t very high. What is high however is the shot of arctic weather coming around Christmas (which we’ve seen on several runs). This would bring readings down into the teens and 20s for highs and lows around 0. We have to keep an eye on that in coming days as well.