The search for warm, spring-like air continues. The first 5 days of April were the coldest in 30 years across a good majority of the eastern US! The main reason for our locked-in cold pattern? A jetstream that brings our airmass DIRECTLY from the cold, northern Canadian prairies:

If you think of the jetstream as a huge, interconnected pulley system–it’s pretty amazing and complex. The entire system is moving–but to get a particular pattern to “lock in” for so long is really quite impressive. Yet, here we are, still searching for spring…

The pattern sticks in place this weekend and even into portions of next week but just shifts a bit further north where it’s equally as cold…

BUT! Models are hinting at the first signs of a pattern change. How long it’ll last or if it’ll even happen is still in question, but these are certainly encouraging signs! The northern jetstream (or polar jet) finally heads northeast of the Region and we lock into a southwest flow bringing warmer air from Texas and the desert southwest.

The resulting temps here at the surface?

And:

However, the Euro blocks the warmer air with a cold front–keeping a very fine line between 30s and 40s and 60s and 70s. Not quite as bullish!

Only time will tell, but just seeing it on the maps is encouraging!