Snow Cover in January

We are anticipating some of the coldest air that this area hasn't seen in the last 10-15 years to arrive Wednesday. Some record lows will be broken Thursday or Friday night, but even more impressive will be the wind chills dropping to 20 or 30 degrees below zero. Cold air of this magnitude is hard on livestock and any human that has to be out in the elements for any period of time. I remember as a kid helping my dad feed cattle in temperatures like this. You didn't want to leave the pickup for even 2 minutes (unless you could go skating on the frozen pond). There is a chance we'll see wind chill warnings and advisories issued as the cold air moves in. A bitter airmass like this normally modifies as it moves south, but look at the snow cover between Kansas and Canada. The snow is quite deep in some areas, so the air will not have a chance to modify after it dislodges from Canada.

I'm expecting that our weather pattern will change beginning next week. So heading into the 2nd and 3rd full weeks of January, we should be drawing in more Pacific air, which will allow us to warm up (maybe 30s and 40s) and begin to melt away some of this snow. Although melting snow is going to take a while in NE Kansas where there is about 5-9 inches still on the ground. We will be catching a break from the winter storms AND the Arctic air very soon, but first, we have to survive Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Have a great week.