Dec 12: Weekend Snow & Cold to a December Thaw

We have tracked multiple clippers this week that brought accumulating snow across much of the Northern Tier. You can see the path each one followed in the snow reports Since Tue afternoon:

One last clipper is moving through Montana and the Northern Plains today and will bring yet another swath of snow to the Ohio Valley and eventually the Mid Atlantic through Sunday:

A closer look at the totals across the Ohio Valley shows a solid swath of 2-4" with some higher amounts getting into the mountains of West Virginia and Southwest Pennsylvania:

The general timing for this region will be starting early Sat AM and ending from West to East by late Sat night:

Moving on to the Mid Atlantic shows the first measurable snow likely for the I-95 corridor including Philly and New York: 

The timing for this region will be starting late Sat afternoon for places like Pittsburgh and ending early Sun afternoon for a place like Atlantic City:

Now onto the cold behind this weekend clipper. Saturday highs will struggle to get above zero across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest: 

And some of the highs on Saturday will be record cold highs for the day:

Sun AM will be the coldest morning across the Northern Plains and parts of the Upper Midwest with lows up to 20 degrees below zero: 

The cold records don't stop there and by Sunday over 20 locations could set a record cold high for the day:

Across the Southeast, Sunday's high will occur at midnight for many locations including Nashville, Atlanta, and Birmingham and the temperature will continue to drop most of the day on Sunday:

Finally by Monday am, low temperatures in the teens greet much of the Eastern US with sub-zero lows across the Midwest: 

This will be the last gasp of extremely cold air for the Eastern US a pattern change will bring mild Pacific air surging into the country: 

This looks to set up a milder pattern heading into the holiday season. Below is the 7 day temperature anomaly from Dec 20 - Dec 27:

In case you missed it, the Pacific Northwest has been dealing with rounds of heavy, warm rain that has led to extensive river flooding and snow melt. Over a foot of rain has fallen across the region the past 7 days:

After a brief break Friday and Saturday, a new round of heavy rain will start Saturday night and bring another 3-5" plus to the Pacific Northwest through next Wednesday. This time, the rain will make it into parts of Northern California: 

More info to come on the weather for the holiday season!