I'VE GOT DECEMBER TO KEEP ME WARM....

It's December, the weather outside should be frightful. Whatever happened to let it snow, let it snow? What do I care, I've got December to keep me warm. Check out the temperature departures for the past 2 weeks.

This is the month as a whole.

Compare that to November, the 7th coldest here in Cedar Rapids. A complete reversal.

As January nears only 26.6% of the nation has snow on the ground as of December 26th. Last month at this point 29.8% of the country was covered. It's extremely unusual for November 26th to have more snow cover nationally than December 26th. Here's today's snow cover.

Here's November 26th.

From the looks of things snow chances for my area look meager through the rest of the year. The big storm that's currently developing is still on track to pound the upper Midwest the next 48 hours. Here's what the EURO shows for total snowfall through Friday.

The GFS has this for snow totals. Darn good consistency.

For those of you traveling to the upper Midwest Thursday or Friday be advised winter storm warnings and advisories are in effect. Traveling in the Dakotas and the NW half of Minnesota will be very difficult with near blizzard conditions at times. The worst of the storm is expected NW of a line from Sioux Falls to just NW of Minneapolis. Here's the current warnings.

Elsewhere wind, rain, and warmer temperatures will be the rule through Thursday. Highs into the 50s are expected well into my area. With dew points close to 50 scattered thunderstorms are also possible. There's still a chance of a few strong storms Thursday afternoon over parts of Iowa and NC Missouri. We'll have a much better handle on that potential late Thursday morning.

Otherwise, the rains will add up until they change to snow showers or flurries before ending Friday. The EURO has this for total rainfall.

The GFS came in this way.

Once the storm departs temperatures will cool to much more seasonal levels the remainder of the upcoming weekend. Time to think about taking down the Christmas tree. Hard to believe another year has come and gone. Roll weather...TS