Active weather pattern will lead to a little more snow this week

Phew!  Many of us were still digging out of nearly a foot of snow that fell over the weekend!  With very little snow in the forecast for this afternoon (there could be some flurries tonight), the drier afternoon will allow us to finish cleaning up what Mother Nature brought us over the weekend.

Since December 1st, which is the start of Meteorological Winter, we had only received 8.2" of snow - all season.  Between what fell Saturday night and what came down on Sunday, it added up to 11.9 inches of new snow in about a 24 hour period.  Now, the 10.5 inches of snow that fell Sunday was just 0.4 inches away from tying the daily snowfall record of 10.9 inches.  Any guess as to when that occurred?  During the Groundhog Day Blizzard back in 2011.  We could have had record setting snow yesterday, but for many the snow that came down was enough!

The jet stream pattern will remain pretty active over the next week bringing several clipper systems down from Canada.  The first is an upper level low that will move through Iowa tonight.  While it won't have a direct impact on us, clouds will be on the increase and there may even be a few flurries that fly overnight.  By Tuesday, a stronger low will move through the Plains and into the Midwest by Tuesday evening.  This one, though, looks to take a slightly further track to the north.  It won't have nearly as much moisture as what hit us over the weekend, clipper systems never do, but there will still be the possibility of accumulating snow by Tuesday night.  Right now, it looks like roughly about an inch or two could fall by Wednesday morning.  Highest totals appear to remain near the Wisconsin/Illinois border with lesser amounts further to the south.

After that, another low will develop in the southwest and lift northeast during the day Wednesday.  The forecast, however, becomes a little more murky with this system as a further track to the south would bypass us completely, but a further track to the north would give us more accumulating snow.  Just what we don't want to hear.