As I discussed in the previous post (click here) I was anticipating a significant storm east of Kansas. As far as snow, not so much. But the current storm along the Mississippi Valley produced killer tornadoes yesterday (Tuesday) in the south and now extreme turbulence over the midwest. This is impacting travel by air with significant delays being experienced. There will be snow across the Great Lakes though.
The other feature that I discussed in the last post was the system that at that time was northwest and west of Hawaii. It was anticipated that it would cause some issues as it approached late in the week.
Forecast
This feature that had been north and west of Hawii is now (as of Friday afternoon) diving into southern Oregon and extreme northern California, as seen in the satellite image. Click for a larger version.
This X that is depicted on the map will intensify as it dives southeast into the Rockies. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the track and amplitude. However, just as expected in the previous post, the surface response will cause much warmer temperatures across the high plains on Christmas Day. Enjoy those temperatures as that will be a distant memory very soon.
As the surface and upper systems organize it appears that precipitation will develop late Friday and into Saturday. There should be a quick change over for much of the plains, with accumulating snow expected. But as is typical, it's impossible to pin point where and how much. Again, keep checking weather.gov for the most up-to-date forecast. I think it's reasonable to expect a 2 to 4 inch band with this system - but the where just can't be forecast this far in advance.
The Cold
As I've expected for some time (go back to the previous posts) the Arctic cold is still on schedule. In the post I did Monday I threw out numbers of 20 to 30 degrees below normal. I'm gaining confidence on the cold and there is pretty good evidence that by the middle of next week we could be looking at some VERY cold temperatures! Specifics will depend on snow cover, sky cover and wind. But there is the potential for lows much below zero across a large part of the high plains. There could even be daytime temperatures around zero or colder and with wind producing life threatening wind chill readings! Those with livestock interests should prepare for very harsh conditions.
The map below is just a guess, but depicts a strong possibility.
I'll try for an update on Sunday.
Merry Christmas!
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