News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Friday’s stormy weather will usher in multiple blasts of arctic air beginning Saturday, the coldest weather since last Christmas.
“Last Christmas was kind of in and out, it occurred and then it was gone,” Meteorologist Rob Carolan said. “This is actually going to kind of come through in two pieces. The first blast comes through this weekend on the tail end of this storm, which is headed up into Michigan tomorrow. And then it’s followed by another blast of cold air coming down the eastern slopes of the Rockies from Canada the following weekend.”
Carolan said it will be colder the next three days, but polar air will really arrive late Monday. Temperatures will struggle to get past 20 degrees for daytime highs both Tuesday and Wednesday. Cloudiness and light winds may keep nighttime temperatures up a bit, Carolan said, but lows could reach the 0-5 range for Wednesday morning.
As for the rumors of snow, Carolan said, as usual, it is far from a slam dunk Monday into Tuesday. The two main weather models used by meteorologists like Carolan, are on opposite ends of the prediction. Carolan said the European model predicts no snow and totally dry conditions. The US model shows multiple inches of snow.
“The US model is bringing the cold to the Gulf Coast and kind of leaving it hung up over the northern Gulf of Mexico,” Carolan said. “The European is saying, no, the cold is going to extend into the Gulf of Mexico. And what that does is it moves the boundary where the storm can develop. Rather than have it on the Gulf Coast, it develops in the central Gulf. So that storm, if you believe the European model, goes across Florida and out to sea off the coast of Georgia. It’s too far to the south to impact us. The US model being about 350 miles further north. The system is close enough to affect us. We’re on the northern side of the cold air and it gives us snow.”
“But which one is right at this point?”
Carolan said the cold air has yet to arrive, making the forecast way too early to call.
Carolan said it has been a mild start to the winter, impacted by the El Nino weather phenomena. making this weekend’s change even more noticeable.
“Pacific air has dominated the country from California to the east coast and now the series of very potent storm systems are helping to pull much colder air down from Canada,” Carolan said. “Also, the polar vortex was displaced by some warming taking place in the upper parts of the atmosphere back the beginning of the month. That has now shifted the polar vortex down towards the northern plain states, and that’s also helping deliver this double shot of cold air that we’re going to experience over the next ten days.”
While temperatures will warm late next week, the change appears temporary. Carolan said a potentially colder push of air could impact us next weekend.
For those who dislike cold weather, Carolan does have long-term good news. A milder regime may return to the Upper Cumberland the final week of the month.
