Good Wednesday, everyone. We have a fairly nice weather day out there, but that changes in a hurry this evening as a cold front moves in. That front will introduce much colder temps and an increasing threat for snow showers that can put down some light accumulations across the region.

Winds today will be very gusty as clouds roll in this afternoon. Showers zip in from west to east from late afternoon into the evening. That same storm will then turn the corner and develop into a semi-surprise blizzard across New England…

gfs-3As that system strengthens, it helps increase the northwesterly wind flow into our part of the world. That cold wind coming over the warmer Great Lakes waters will mean snow showers and flurries for much of central and eastern Kentucky late Thursday into Friday…

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Light accumulations are a good bet, with the east and southeast potentially picking up an inch or so of snow. I can see the high ground picking up a few inches. Areas of West Virginia will pick up a lot more than that…

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The New Year’s Eve system continues to trend a little colder, leading to more of a rain and snow mix across the region. Notice how the snow map increases when we add Saturday and Saturday night into it…

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Another system follows that up with rain and gusty winds later New Year’s Day into Monday. Heavy rainfall and some thunder will be possible with this system.

After that goes by, look out, the country goes into the deep freeze with a pattern frozen dreams are made of. Blocking trying to link up over top with a trough trying to cutoff to the east of Hawaii, allowing for a coast to coast bitterly cold trough to develop mid and late next week…

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I’ve been trying to get you guys ready for this for the past few weeks. It’s a pattern that I’ve talked about potentially going above and beyond my winter forecast in terms of cold and snow.

I’ve talked about the pattern arguing for winter storm systems to develop and pass just to our south. Now the models are beginning to show this. Here’s the European later next week…

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The Canadian also has a nice look…

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And the bitter cold coming in behind that…

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I want to stress a few things here. This isn’t one of those ” the models show” deal with the overall pattern. This is going to be a headline making winter weather setup across much of the country in the coming weeks. In terms of snowfall, it’s also not just a model shows this or that… It’s about the pattern favoring this region for winter weather events and now the models are seeing the potential.

I’m not just talking about next week either. This is a pattern that can repeat itself through much of January and into early February, and can wreck a winter forecast. 😉

I will have updates later today. Make it a good one and take care.