December showers, models sorting out snow chances
It's been a little weird to see raindrops on the car windshield lately.
Minnesotans are used to dealing with snow by this point in the season. Window scrapers. Snow brush. Shovel. Boots. You remember those right?
47 degrees: high at MSP Airport Wednesday evening
Sixth straight day in the 40s in the Twin Cities
+11 degrees: temperatures vs. average so far in December
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Get ready for another round of December rain showers as the next low pressure wave glides overhead Thursday.
Pacific front parade
Here comes the next set of Pacific fronts attached to inbound low pressure systems. The biggest storm on the map moves into the Pacific Northwest Friday. That's Sunday's potential weathermaker for the Midwest.
The mild air continues for now. As the lows track into the southwest United States then re-curve northeast, I'm still watching snow chances Sunday and next Tuesday.
Tracking multiple lows
The jet stream is about to start dealing us a series of low pressure systems that should be cold enough for accumulating snow somewhere close to home. The big questions this far out involve the usual storm track and temperatures profile (rain-snow line).
Here's a look at one model -- NOAA's GFS -- for Sunday evening. The latest trends seem to favor this notion of a more eastward track with big rain/snow potential in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin with the Twin Cities on the western fringes of the snow zone. Tuesday's potential storm No. 2 gathers in the western United States.
It's still way too early to start throwing out snow amounts or precise tracks. The best advice at this point is to say expect rain and/or snow close by Sunday and probably snow next Tuesday.
Stay tuned.