Winter is Coming..

It's finally feeling like winter across the Midwest as an upper level wave sweeps across the area. This is bringing a cold blast of air into the region. Temperatures today will stay in the upper 20s with chills in the teens. This shortwave of energy will stick with us through Saturday, keeping temperatures near 30°. Even though this is about a 30° temperature drop from high temperatures over the weekend, this is right around the average for this time of December. Hopefully this will help get you in the Christmas spirit....because it won't last long.

The pattern begins to change into Sunday. A warm front will lift north across northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin through the afternoon, bringing a more mild airmass. Our jet stream pattern also changes, the dip we saw will lift and the jet winds flow from west to east, called zonal flow. This will bring in a more mild pacific airmas. Temperatures will once again warm above normal for Sunday afternoon, into the mid 40's.

The pattern continues to warm as we head into next week as a big dip in the jet stream sets up to the west, and a large ridge builds across the Midwest and East Coast. This could set the stage for record breaking high temperatures through the end of next week. We could have temperature in the 40's or 50's on Christmas! This is still about a week away and could change, but there is high confidence is much above average temperatures next week.