It's all on track - Updated 01/08/21

 In the previous post (click here) I discussed the storm(s) that were going to impact areas mainly east of the of the high plains.  That did happen, with the exception the the southern high plains got a decent snow from the parting storm.  Here is a look at the precipitation map for the 14 day period ending this morning...

That is an impressive amount moisture for areas of Oklahoma, eastern Kansas and into Texas, especially for the winter time.  With this additional rain (and snow), the drought map shows how much improvement has occurred in that region, and keep in mind this does NOT include what fell earlier this week.

In that previous post I said "That could very well impact the central U.S. once again around January 9, give or take a day.  That should be the next significant chance of precipitation after this Thursday/Friday (again east of the high plains)."  

Once again it looks like a system will indeed be present and is right on schedule!  But this time the main precipitation event (and it appears to be almost all snow) will be farther west and south impacting mainly the southern high plains again and then eventually deep into Texas.  Here is the upper air map...

As of this morning the system was entering the west coast and racing east but had taken a turn southeast as it began amplifying.  Here is the outlook for precipitation through the end of the next week with the the precipitation depicted for the plains occurring late tomorrow (Saturday) into Sunday.

Back to the upper map. There was a very energetic upper level low across the eastern Pacific (depicted by the red L), but it appears that it will rapidly weaken and move north.  This tells me there is a change going on across the Pacific Ocean Basin.  What does that mean for the high plains?  Nothing initially as it fits the weather pattern.  It's too bad as that system, if it were to continue moving east, could have been a big weather maker for the central part of the U.S., but not this time.

So, after this weekend, much of this following week there should be a pretty good warm-up, especially for the northern high plains.  I don't see much chance for any precipitation for the work week.  The next significant change, will probably be around the 18th (give or take a day) with a significant cool down expected and with another chance for precipitation across the plains.  In general, the weather the last 7-10 days of January should be much colder with a couple of chances for precipitation and this should carry into the first few days of February.  Details to follow.