Big Soaker Coming After Dark...

What a beautiful mid December Saturday as we saw plenty of sunshine and warmer temperatures up near 70, but that is about to change.

There is a large band of showers and T-Storms across western Louisiana with lots of lightning offshore south of Beaumont.  All that is out ahead of our next cold front that is of Pacific origin.  

There is no real cold air coming behind this front, but it will sweep away all the clouds and mositure for the beginning of next week.  That means skies should be clear to see the Christmas Star event on Dec. 21st.

Some super cold minus (40+ below) air lingers up across Alaska & central Canada and that is important to watch since the upper air forecasts for next week and into New Year's develop a deep East Coast upper trough.

The top graphic is from this morning with the middle the forecast for Christmas Eve.  The bottom view is the forecast for Jan. 2nd.   With that deep of a trough over the eastern states, look for an Arctic Express to head our way. Enjoy our current warmth and that on Tuesday and Wednesday because after that we're heading into the freezer.  

The FOX 8 seven day gives you an idea regarding the coming cooldown, and it could be even colder!  I don't see a southern snowstorm yet, but remember, at first we need the cold.

 Finally, I love to show you satellite views where the recent snowfall in the Northeast reveal the snow on the ground.  How can you tell it's snow and not clouds?  On the satellite loop, the snow doesn't move plus you can see rivers and mountain ridges that you couldn't see if the white was a cloud cover.  Note how many cities (100+) had over 30" inches of snow.  Quite a storm.  We could see some strong storms here after dark so pay attention to the FOX 8 Weather App.  Stay tuned!