Different Generations, But Same Old Santa

Yesterday I talked about storytelling remembering my time as a child.  My website administrator (oldest son Rob) found a picture from my youth (maybe 2 1/2-3 years old?) of me with Santa.  My grandson Ethan also was with Santa this year.   Of course the modern Santa has color while back in the late 40s we were happy to have  black & white pictures!  Some say Ethan kinda looks like a young Bob?  What do you think?

Whatever, our weather pattern is certainly changing going from a pre-Christmas stretch of above average/normal to 2 weeks of pretty chilly weather.  Hannah Gard had this graphic at 4 pm.

As you can see, the next 7 days will be below normal with some freezing temperatures expected.  Why is that going to happen?  It's the change in the upper air pattern I talked about yesterday.

The cut off upper low is slowly shifting into Missouri with a dry slot wrapping around the southern side.  This has killed the inflow of Gulf moisture so the blizzard conditions of yesterday have improved.  So too has the snow cover over much of the northern Plains.  That air, which is seasonally cold but not brutal, is coming down our way.  Thank goodness it's not super cold (40-50 below), but I am watching Alaska starting to get really cold.

We'll have to pay attention to see if this cut off low is not the start of a repeating East Coast/Great Lakes upper trough pattern.  If so, it would reverse the current lack of snow cover where temperatures are above freezing into Canada and as far north as Maine. The third graphic is the snow cover with the bottom the 4 PM cst temps.   That won't last.

We're just trying to shake the SW sub-tropical jet flow common in an El Nino weather pattern.  It keeps filtered sunshine over us not allowing for much daytime warming.  In fact, get ready for the next cold surge to arrive after dark on Wednesday.

I'll make the decision tomorrow whether I bring some of my potted plants into my He-Shed.  If you live north of the Lake or away from it south, I'd error on the side of caution.  We're going to have 3 chilly nights in a row .    Since tomorrow will have very little wind, I'd use the warming hours to get my yard & garden ready for the coming chill.  This will not be a problem for our pipes.  Stay tuned!