KEEP CALM AND MELT ON....

First and foremost I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who attended the first TSwails Weather School on Saturday.

It was great meeting all of you and sharing our passion of weather! We hope to do more sessions and we'll of course keep everyone updated when that happens.

Now onto the weather...

Temperatures will generally be running near and above normal for the next week or so. This is the latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center through the beginning of February.

This means temperatures will be near and slightly above freezing. This is due to a big ridge (area of high pressure) sitting over Canada. Very few, weak systems will move through the area during this time.

Notice the trough (blue/green blob) sitting over Alaska. That will currently prevent any cold air from draining south into the U.S. Here's a look at the temperatures as a result for Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities as a result -

This will likely lead to some melting of some of the snowpack. Here's a look at the current snowpack across the Upper Midwest -

We'll see how much of the snowpack is left after the next week or so.

I do want to say there could be a change in the long-range. Check out the 10-day pattern at the end of the latest European run... quite the flip.

Notice the ridge building up by Alaska allowing colder air to drain south. We'll have to see if the trend holds, but if it does that would mean it will get much colder around the second week of February.

RK