Downward Temperature Trend with Pattern Change Next Week

As the old saying goes, 'All good things must come to an end'.  And that looks to be the case with our warmer weather later next week.  But in the near term, temperatures will remain in the low 60's for the weekend and early next week.  However, a pattern change within the jet stream will pull down cooler air from the north and push the more mild air south and east.

Over the past week, the southern branch of the jet stream has been the dominant jet stream.  The northern branch has been shifted north into Canada.  As we near the official start of spring, next Sunday the 20th, a dip in the jet stream will cause the northern branch to become more dominant pulling down the cooler air.  Now, I wouldn't necessarily say it's going to be an Arctic outbreak but the 50's and 60's we've become used to this past week will drop into the 40's (typical for this time of March), but possibly the 30's.

We'll have to wait and see just how long this cooler pattern sticks around, but it may last through the end of March.

Here is the 8-14 day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center.  You can clearly see where the dip in the jet stream will take place over the middle of the country.  With this cooler pattern, precipitation does look to remain below average.