Friday, December 30, 2011

Big lake effect snow is on the way for 2012

A blast of Arctic air is heading our way and will arrive on Sunday to kick off the new year. While it's not a terribly cold arctic air mass, it will certainly be the coldest we've seen this season with daytime highs early next week in the low to mid 20s and wind chills at times in the single digits. But, the big news with the cold air will be the return of real, live lake effect snow. Yes, a significant lake effect snow is likely beginning late Sunday.
Here's the scenario as it looks now...
The cold front ushering in the Arctic air mass will arrive during the day Sunday.  Once that air gets in place lake effect snow will start to develop. This will continue through Sunday night, but then on Monday, the winds are expected to shift more northwesterly and that will really ramp things up.  Right now it looks like 4-8 inches of snow will fall Monday and Monday night.  The lake effect will continue on Tuesday, but begin to back off toward evening.
One more note...this is NOT the beginning of a 20-day stretch of cold air.  By the end of next week we will be back in the lower 40s for daytime highs.
Patience my winter snow friends!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

New Years Eve looking good

Well, we had our few inches of snowfall and that should get us through the rest of 2011. We'll have a mix of rain and snow off and on Thursday and Friday, but the good news is that New Years Eve is looking pretty decent. During the day Saturday we should have lots of sun with some clouds mixed in as well.  If you are going to be out celebrating the turning of the calendar, perhaps down in Akron at First Night, you can expect partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid 30s. It will be a tad breezy so the wind child will be in the mid to upper 20s, but still, not bad for December 31st. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Finally!

Well, it looks like we are finally going to see some snow. A storm system heading up the Appalachians will scoot to our southeast today dumping a couple of inches of snow before lake effect sets up tonight. We are looking at 2-4 inches of new snow by Wednesday morning with perhaps another inch before it ends around midday. It won't be much, but at least it will be a start. It's also probably going to make driving a bit difficult tonight, so watch out for those people who forgot how to handle snowy roadways.

Friday, December 23, 2011

I'm dreaming of a non-white Christmas

In case you haven't accepted it yet, what we were saying it going to come to fruition. There will be no white Christmas for us this year.  The best we can do is to maybe late Christmas Day bring in some flurries and snow showers. There will be nothing around to build a snowman or sled ride on. Actually most all of the country, except for the Rockies and the upper states of New England, will have a non-white Christmas this year.  This is in great contrast to last year when over half the nation was covered with snow. My, what a difference a year makes.  Meanwhile, from all of us to all of you, best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A mini-White Christmas?

The forecast models are getting interesting as we head into the Christmas weekend. Most of the models are calling for a rather "light-weight" storm producing a rain/snow mix across NE Ohio. However, there is one train of thought that could maybe give us a couple of inches of snow Saturday night into Christmas day. It's too early to know for sure right now which way we will go, but at least there might be hope for a couple of inches. Ho, ho, ho! More later.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A white Christmas? Probably not...

Well, as we were thinking, the chance of a white Christmas is not looking very good.  Of course, that is determined by what you call a white Christmas.  Is it snow on the ground Christmas Day, or snow falling on the holiday, or snow falling a few days before Christmas?

Here's what we are looking at for next week...Christmas week. We should see continued above freezing daytime highs throughout the week, but when we get to Christmas Eve, temperatures will likely cool down and there could be some snow. At this point it doesn't look like much, but it might satisfy your personal needs. We'll know more as we get closer to the end of next week.

Meanwhile, below is a map our friends at AccuWeather released indicating the chances of a white Christmas nationwide. As you can see, it's doesn't look good for NE Ohio.


Sunday, December 11, 2011

(Insert YAWN)

I wish there was something exciting to talk about, but there isn't. We remain pretty much in this same weather pattern we have had for quite some time.  No real arctic air is breaking loose and heading into the Great Lakes to stay. During the period between now and Christmas it appears that no significant change will take place. There will be quick shots of colder air coming through and some light-weight snowfall, but, as for cold air coming to camp out and snow storms and winter stuff like that, I think not. The normal highs during the next few weeks should be in the mid 30s. We will be near or above that most of the time. Unless we can get a cold shot right before Christmas, I don't think our chances are looking good for a white Christmas...and if it is white, it won't be very white..maybe just a few inches.