Changing pattern ahead

After a week of below freezing temperatures, the weather pattern begins to change again this week. Milder air starts pushing back toward the central US as the bitter cold will finally retreat to the northeast. What an amazing week with icy conditions to our south, major snow over the Rockies, and it was one of the coldest starts to December ever on record. The pattern changes back to a milder/less active one for a little while. I expect it may be that way leading up to Christmas week.

We've had a bunch of cool pictures trickle in over the last few days with the blast of winter weather (click on the pictures to make them larger). Ice crystals high up in the atmosphere align after a snow event in northern Kansas Sunday to create a sun pillar. It looks like a fire ball dropping in the western sky. Maybe you've heard of a sun dog. That's when you have the sliver of light on either the left or right side of the sun. And then we received another picture from Russell showing a pile of snowflakes that looked like a Christmas tree. One final flake on top of the pile made it appear as if the "tree" had a topper. We appreciate all of the pictures and reports because it gives us a better idea of what is really happening across the area. There's no substitute for reliable ground truth. Have a great week.