Cold Pattern To Linger Another Week...

Those of you who desired the cold to come and stay around for awhile have had your wishes come true.  We began January where December left off on the mild side.  But the last 3 weeks have seen a real cool down.  This is not record cold, but more like the typical "normal/average" January chill.  I checked to see how cold it's been for the 1st 24 days and we are below the averages, but no where close to cracking the top ten coldest Januarys on record.   A look at the upper pattern shows why.

There has been an upper ridge along the West coast that is keeping them dry and sunny from California to Washington.   That ridge has buckled the jet stream with the upper trough now over most of the U.S.  Even now and then the southern stream kicks in an active disturbance, and that pattern will last for the rest of this month keeping the east cold with the core of the chill over the Great Lakes & Northeast.  

The latest "clipper" has races out of Canada with a burst of snow that now has shifted towards the East coast.  Another surge of Arctic air is heading into the Great Lakes while the cold rain shield over the South will quickly race to the east.  Note how in areas with sunshine, highs topped 60+.

The southern disturbance is a fast mover and doesn't have any deep tropical moisture to work with.  It'll be gone shortly after daybreak with some sunshine returning during the day.

It should be a rainy night, and with temps. in the 40s, you'll need the heavy weather gear.  In fact, the next 7 days will stay well below the long term average high of 63.

Another disturbance will bring us a rain chance on Friday with more cold air following for the weekend.  We may have to bring our plants back inside or protect them as another freeze is likely.  We have several days to watch that.  Finally,

Those of you depressed by all this cold, there is hope.  Grabbed this graphic from Bruce Katz that says a huge warm up arrives for the first week in February.  We could be back to 70+ for Tuesday & Wednesday of NEXT week.  Stay tuned!