So Close Yet So Far As Cold Front Stalls

For all you cold air Geeks, i can only show you Winter from my son's (Rob) house in Colorado the morning after a snowfall.  Lows were 10 below, but once the sun came up, the pictures were stunning!  The cold air has entered NW LA. but it's come to a quick halt.

The reason the front can't come down to us this week is the same old, same old upper West Coast trough  This is an unusually deep upper trough that will bring snow to the higher elevations of southern California.  A blizzard warning has been issued for the first time ever out of the San Diego NWS office!

Look at how cold it is at mid afternoon with Portland in the 20s, SFO & LAX mid 40s and only high 50s in Phoenix.

So the cold front has come close, but the upper SW flow will take away any eastward push.  We'll stay in the 80s into next week.

Computer models are hinting there will be a flip in the upper pattern coming by the end of next week.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we are NOT done with cold air.  Do NOT start planting tomatoes or other tender vegetation.  March will be a colder month than February. Finally...

The top graphic is the drought monitor from January 10th with the middle being from this morning.  Note how all of California, Nevada & Utah has gone from extreme (red) drought to little or no drought.  That's the good news.  The bad news is reservoirs remain no where near full as the intensity of the January rainfall forced water managers to release much of it into the Pacific in an effort to minimize flooding.  The rains & snows coming tomorrow & Saturday should help replenish those reservoirs as long as it remains moderate.  The bottom graphic does find the central plains still in need of more moisture.  That will be coming with this next western storm on Saturday.  Stay tuned!