WinterChat! Saturday, December 10, 2011

We have more than a few things to talk about this afternoon.  First, we are going to look at an oppurtunity for a big snow between Wednesday and Friday of this week.  Next, we'll discuss a storm looking to make a snowy impact between December 17th and 21st.  Finally, we'll look into the possibility of a Christmas time snowstorm. First up, this week's storm.  It looks as if a low pressure system will develop in Colorado before moving north and east through the Midwest.  Overall, I expect something like this to happen:

Now this has plenty of time to change, so don't hold this as something that is set in stone.  Anyway, it looks like the best shot at accumulating snowfall will be from Nebraska through Minnesota, but I don't think it will be as much as in previous storms as the cold air isn't looking to move as far south this time.  A mix of rain and snow will stay closer to the low pressure area, while rain will hit areas further south.  Here is CityCast, something that will tell you what to expect in your area if current data holds true:

• Minneapolis, MN: Snow
• Des Moines, IA: Mix of Precipitation
• Omaha, NE: Mix of Precipitation
• Chicago, IL: Rain
• Milwaukee, WI: Rain
• Green Bay, WI: Mix of Precipitation
• Detroit, MI: Rain
• Indianapolis, IN: Rain

The next storm we are watching is a storm that looks to take shape between December 17th and 21st.  This storm looks to be tracking a little bit further south than the one we just talked about, and has a better shot at producing large amounts of snow.  Now we can't get down to details on this one, but it looks like a big one.  There is lots of uncertainty on this one, so a cool map like the one above isn't available.  Still, we tried:

Because of the uncertainty, there will be no CityCast for this one.  The last storm is the one to occur around Christmas time.  A LOT of uncertainty on this one, so there will be no map.  We will just give a little statement about it, in that this has potential to impact a lot of holiday travel with some big snow, so stay tuned!