Watching the next storm & temperatures leading up to Christmas

Good Tuesday to you and thanks for spending a few minutes reading this blog. We are at the start of what should be an overall milder stretch for Kansas and the central Plains. Now that doesn't mean we aren't going to have some chilly mornings (this is December after all), but afternoon temperatures will likely be above normal for several days coming up.

Here's what we see happening Thursday. The approaching storm comes right over the Rockies, which already suggests to me this won't be a major storm for Kansas. There's a good chance that 90% of our area won't get any precipitation at all. Areas along and southeast of the turnpike could pick up some rain showers Thursday morning or early afternoon, but chances for snow are limited. The only snowflakes we'll see MIGHT come right at the end of the event (and even then it won't be much)

Computer models are giving us light amounts of rain:

Temperatures will be warm enough that we will NOT have icy roads.

Chances of a White Christmas?

I've been asked that numerous times already. Here's what we do know at this point. It will be turning cold again right in time for Christmas. So even though the next 10 days look fairly mild, the pattern will flip again just before the holiday. We expect temperatures to turn cold over much of the central and northern Plains.

Just take a look at the period of Dec. 17-21:

And the period Dec. 21-26 begins to flip around to cold:

Have a great day.