Cold temperatures return, maybe even some snow

If you're looking for any warmth, you're going to be looking for a long time.  Long range forecasts through the end of February continue to show any signs of warmth lacking as below average temperatures hold tight through the Great Lakes and Northeast.  This will all be due to a strong ridge of high pressure building out west, forcing the jet stream to buckle across the middle of the country.



8-14 Day Outlook

The first taste of the cold will arrive Wednesday night.  A fast moving clipper system will swing through the upper Great Lakes.  With it, a light mix of snow and sleet will be possible Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Wednesday morning temperatures will start in the upper 20's/low 30's, but then drop throughout the afternoon and evening as north winds increase during the day.  Behind the clipper, temperatures will struggle to get out of the upper teens straight through the upcoming weekend. 

It will be a pretty active pattern of low pressure/high pressure, low pressure/high pressure.  Each low that passes this week will be followed by strong high pressure, reinforcing the cold in the Stateline. 

Accumulating snow looks low through this week as most of these systems will move mainly through Wisconsin.  Next week, however, the jet stream pattern will begin to shift as low pressure forms in the southwest.  This is something our models have been latching on to for some time now, which gives us a little more confidence that there may be some accumulating snow for the Midwest and Mississippi River Valley sometime during the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame of next week.