A Cold But Fair Christmas Weekend Expected

A very Merry Christmas to all!!

And the weather for your holiday plans will be cold, but should not cause any major problems.

High pressure over north-central Canada will control our weather for the next several days as it drifts slowly south and southeastward. As a result, it will be cold through the holiday weekend, but after mostly cloudy skies tonight clear out tomorrow morning, skies will be mainly sunny through midweek next week. However, watch for some areas of fog later tonight into tomorrow morning as lows fall into the single digits.

But mostly sunny skies should dominate by Christmas afternoon with highs near freezing with light and variable winds.

Christmas night will be mostly clear and cold with lows near 10.

Then Sunday will be sunny and still cold with highs in the 30’s.

Temperatures early next week will begin to moderate a bit, and by Tuesday we will likely see at least a few areas sneak into the 40’s with sunshine. This moderation will continue Wednesday.

There are indications that a major change in the weather pattern over North America will occur later next week. For several weeks now, the general pattern has featured a trough in the Gulf of Alaska, a ridge in the Rockies, and a trough over the eastern states. However, it appears a reversal will take place with more of a ridge developing to the south of Alaska, and also over the eastern states, with a deep trough over the western and central U.S. As this reversal occurs, the energy that will be carving out this new jet-stream pattern may produce a significant, if not major storm that would affect much of the country from the Rockies eastward. The latest information right now shows that a major winter storm could occur in Greater Nebraska during the Thursday through New Years weekend time period next week. However, this potential event is still a week away, and the exact development, track and strength of this storm all need to be determined, all of which will have a major impact on what our region sees from this storm, if anything. Therefore, please check back with News 2 beginning Sunday and into next week for the latest on this potential storm.

In the meantime, please have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Mike