After a relatively quiet set of days recently, the jetstream will take a dive into the western and central US helping to stir up a series of stronger storm systems late this weekend into next week. This will also help to get the Gulf of Mexico involved bringing storm systems with abundant moisture leading to heavy rain and yes, heavy snow. Where does the heavy snow fall? It all depends on the storm track. Let’s take a look.

Storm System #1 (Sunday-Monday)

An area of low pressure will get going in the central Plains early Sunday helping rain to develop and overspread much of the area during the day. Winds will be on the gusty side as well once the low pressure gets going. We’re on the warm side of things Sunday with all rain expected.

Once the front moves through, gusty northwest winds will take over helping our temps to sharply drop. We’ll likely see some flakes fly on Monday as lake effect snow develops. On the current track of the low, we wouldn’t see much snowfall from the system itself, but we’ll need to watch to see if the track shifts south at all over the upcoming days. From experience, a southward shift isn’t too likely so we’re looking at a cold, windy, few snow showers type of day but we shouldn’t see much in the way of accumulating snow from round one.

Storm System #2 (Tuesday-Wednesday)

Another area of low pressure will develop in the central Plains and with a storm track that has now shifted south with the colder air behind system #1, this low will likely take a track further south. As moisture connects with this system from the Gulf of Mexico, an area of snow will begin to fill in to our west.

The latest model guidance suggests this area of low pressure will remain separate from the southern branch of the jetstream. This would keep our mid-week low pressure from developing into anything significant. Light snow will still be likely as this system breezes east, but significant snows will not be likely.

Here’s a preliminary look at what we may be dealing with Tuesday-Wednesday:

The Euro

The GFS has the storm track further north bringing very little snow to the Region:

Notice the bullseye to our north! Whoever ends up on the northern side of these storms will end up with feet of snow by the end of next week–that area likely from Wisconsin to northern Michigan. (there will be yet another strong system later next week to keep an eye on)

We’ll keep you updated on what you need to know! Stay tuned!