Good Sunday everyone and thanks for dropping by the blog. I hope your new year got started off on a better note than the weather year did as our New Year’s Day was pretty ugly across much of the region. The second day of the year looks better, albeit colder. Our attention is quickly turning toward the return of winter for the week ahead as the pattern threatens to head toward an extreme one for much of the January.

As usual… let’s start with the precious weather present.

Today will feature partly sunny skies and much colder temps. There is a small shot at a few flakes in eastern Ky early today. Highs will generally run in the 30s.

The start to the new week looks pretty tame with a seasonal chill in the air. That will lead us into a much more active pattern for the second half of the week that is likely to put some snow on the ground once again.

Southern stream moisture will be streaming eastward from late Wednesday into Thursday and combine with a piece of energy dropping in from the northwest to produce a period of light snot to much of the region. If everything works out according to plan… some accumulating snows would be a good bet by this time. The GFS is coming around to the Canadian Model’s line of thinking…



That would be followed up by an arctic front blasting through here Thursday night into Friday with another chance to put snow on the ground…



That is a heck of a shot of cold air coming in behind that bad boy and would take our highs down to the low 20s for Friday into the weekend. Lows could flirt with single digits. The arctic front would also have a lot of wind with it leading to an even colder feel.

I mentioned the Canadian model earlier and it has been leading the charge on the above scenario playing out later this week. The new run is a great mach to what the GFS is showing…



The pattern is taking on an extreme look across the country for the next several weeks and is one that can lead to some severe arctic shots and a lot of snow. I used the GFS temp forecast last night as an example of the cold possibilities. Let’s use the latest run of the GFS to look at the snowfall possibilities. The model run builds a glacier across the country over the next few weeks…



Just like last night… I am showing that for entertainment purposes only to illustrate the wild pattern that is likely ahead of us for much of this month.

Buckle up… it’s going to be a wild ride!

I will update things later today so check back. Have a great Sunday and take care.