Mother Nature Brings Back Arctic Air This Weekend

SEASONABLY WARM: A few warm days ahead with clouds on the increase as well ahead of the next system coming the middle of the week that looks to last until the first part of the weekend. Ahead of that however, we will see warmer readings with temperatures in the 20s and 30s for highs today and tomorrow. There will be an increase in cloudiness by late today and especially tonight so any sunshine you see today may be the last you see of it for a while. Precipitation will move into the state Wednesday and Wednesday night in the form of rain and snow. This will continue off and on through the rest of the week with the precipitation changing over to all snow for the entire state on Friday as much colder air moves in from the northwest. This is the cold air you’ve been hearing about for some time that comes in force this weekend. With regards to the precipitation this week, it will be very difficult denoting where the rain snow line will be and if we may see any freezing precipitation as well. All modes of precipitation are possible with the best chances of seeing any rain in the far southern counties and mostly snow in the northern counties. Some accumulation of snow is possible but looks at this time to be a few inches at best.

MAPLE LEAF BLAST: Those darn Canadians! Why can’t they keep their bitter Arctic air to themselves! They seemingly want to share with their southern neighbors too darn much. And it looks like this weekend is going to be show and tell time with regards to the air mass that’s coming from our northern neighbor. The blast begins Saturday as winds turn north and snow pulls out by the middle of the day. We could see winds of 15-25mph with higher gusts possible. With temperatures dropping through the day, we easily could see wind chills dropping below zero even before sunset and actual temperatures heading toward the goose egg by Sunday morning. Highs on Sunday may struggle to reach double digits in most areas. Monday morning looks to be the coldest readings with the GFS showing temperatures below zero north of Interstate 80 and a few degrees above to the south. Highs on Monday will again struggle to get out of the single digits in the northern counties but may squeak into the lower teens in our far southern and southwestern counties. Another disturbance next Tuesday could bring us a few flurries in our northeastern counties but will reinforce the cold Arctic air once more.

THE NOT SET IN STONE EXTENDED: (Everything in this paragraph is derived from the GFS Model, this is what the model is currently suggesting what could happen from next week to the end of the forecast. This is only model data and NOT A FORECAST) The cold air looks to stay in place through the end of next week with some modest warming on Saturday to near seasonal norms. A disturbance on Sunday the 17th could bring a few flurries or snow showers but it doesn’t look too serious at this time. The rest of the period looks fairly calm and quiet with most of the stormy activity staying well south and west of the state at this time. Temperatures toward the end of the period look to stay relatively close to seasonal.