Snow Threat Here Is Not Zero...

The Huge mass of Arctic air covers much of the northern states with the big question remaining...How far south will the cold advance?  Right Now, the cold will arrive on Friday and slowly deepen into early next week.  The other question then becomes...Will there be any moisture around to create snow, sleet or freezing rain.  Let's take a look.

The brutal cold over Canada has moderated slightly, but it's still 30-35 below zero in spots.   Some bleow zero temps are aross the northern tier of states, but will an East Coast upper trough develop to bring the chill down to us?   Yes and no.  Below the temps graphic is this morning's upper flow with a broad upper trough across the northern plains.  The next graphic is valid for Sunday morning that is slightly deeper allowing the cold air to reach us.  The bottom graphic is valid next Tuesday with the trough sharpening even further.   Here's what I see.

The top graphic is valid for Sunday morning with a surface low coming out of the Gulf.  We are not cold enough for any frozen precipitation.  The next graphic is valid for Monday morning with the blue dashed lines indicating the cold air/freezing temps have arrived in the upper levels.  The bottom graphic is valid for Tuesday showing moisture over us with that blue dashed line separating the snow from the rain.  Geez, that's really close to us.  You snow geeks still have some hope.

Now I'm not expecting we'll look like this photo from Michigan Technical University where it was cold enough and snowy enough to build a "Snow Church".   But some of you may want to pray to Saint Snowfall to bring us some of that beauty?!!!  Amen!

In the short term, much of the country is covered in clouds with the cold air not too far to our north. 

Look at the difference between Dallas (63) and Tulsa (26) !   This is a very tricky forecast that warms us up before we head towards the freezer.

I like what David said on FOX 8 at 5 PM.  6-8 days out, snow is "possible", but we need to be 1-2 days out before we can say snow is likely.  Even more importantly, how bad a freeze is coming?   Lots of questions, so few answers.  Stay tuned Gang!