A WINTRY WEEKEND AHEAD...
If you are looking for spring weather, you won't find it this weekend. A late season Arctic front will sweep the Midwest Friday bring another round of unseasonal chill that will badger us through early next week. We'll also add some snow to the equation Sunday to complete the wintry cocktail.
Let's start with the cold. The strong cold front that pushes south of the area Friday will produce temperatures more typical of January than April. A few snow showers are even possible. As winds howl at 30 mph, temperatures Friday will slowly fall and by evening the GFS shows readings that look like this. Teens well into NC Iowa and single digits in Minnesota. That's sic!!
Wind chills late Friday. Sub-zero to the Iowa border...are you kidding me.
By Saturday morning temperatures really tank. Record or near record lows are expected in many parts of the Midwest.
Saturday itself will be quiet day as cold high pressure follows the Arctic front. Temperatures will be 15-20 degrees below normal but at least the sun will be shining.
Sunday is the day to watch for snow and it does look like accumulations are likely across the majority of my area and the central Midwest. One of the recent trends I've noticed is that the system looks to weaken as it moves southeast. The track has also inched north and those are 2 factors that could reduce potential accumulations. Even so, there should be enough moisture and dynamics to provide snow totals of 2-5" from south to north in my area.
Here's the disturbance with its snow at 7:00am Sunday.
Sunday evening at 7:00pm.
And finally Monday morning at 7:00am.
The Weather Prediction Center has these odds of 1" of snow by Sunday evening.
The GFS run Thursday night (0Z) shows these amounts. Probably a bit high but the positioning of the snow band looks about right.
I'll be curious to see what the EURO does late tonight before taking a hard stand on amounts. We'll be able to tighten things up tomorrow as we get within 48 hours of the event. Happy Friday and roll weather...TS
