If you're worried that we might not see a white Christmas, I wouldn't lose hope just yet. A changing weather pattern during the last week and a half of December may favor a cooler and more active jet stream pattern through the beginning of 2015.
We won't see much precipitation this week following Monday and Tuesday's rainfall. High pressure building in late Tuesday will help keep the active branch of the jet stream positioned along the gulf states through the weekend. A series of low pressure systems moving into the Pacific Northwest will follow the jet stream south and bypass the Great Lakes, especially with high pressure anchored overhead. While we could come close to a little wintry weather Thursday and Saturday, high pressure overhead should limit how far north those lows move. And even though temperatures will fall back into the low 30's, we won't be that far off from average highs as the coldest of the air remains bottled north in Canada and the Arctic.
Looking ahead into next week, though, there are some signs that point to a changing weather pattern. High pressure building in the Pacific will push the jet stream up the west coast and into western Canada. This in turn will cause a dip, or trough, in the jet stream to develop over the middle of the country. This will cause the northern branch and southern branch of the jet stream to merge, or work together, and could cook up a couple stronger storm systems before and after Christmas. It's still too early to tell whether or not these systems will impact northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, or if we'll see all snow from them. But it's something to keep in the back of your mind as many will be traveling or finishing up last minute shopping. We'll keep the updates coming through this week and into the weekend as it looks like there will be some impact of the weather in time for Christmas.
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