FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports12.29.11 Bitter Cold Coming

12.29.11 Bitter Cold Coming

As 2011 comes to a close, temperatures are a bit chilly.  But this is far from what our area has seen this late fall/early winter season(s).  WARM. Temperatures.  November ended up being one of the top warmest months on record, and it could be a top 5 warmest year on record in Burlington.  So this...

...blast of cold air is not something we've seen much lately.  However this little breakthrough of cold air is a preview of what could happen next week.

So here's what has been happening.  One of the reasons we have been so warm is because of the upper-level weather pattern.  The jet stream has been in a favorable pattern to provide warmer-than-average temperatures in our area.  It has also been in a favorable pattern to move storm systems to our north and west, giving us either mixed precip events or all rain.

This is what it has looked like:

This will be the pattern into this weekend too, as the close of the year happens midnight Sunday.  Another couple of storm systems will scoot right along a jet stream pattern similar to this, taking the storm through interior New England and giving us a mix of rain and snow.

These two waves of low pressure will take a east/northeast track from where they are now.  This will provide a brief snow shower activity to start, followed by warmer air and rain showers mixing in.

However once Monday comes, a sharp cold front is going to plunge through the region.  As a reminder, a front is a boundary between two air masses.  This front will be the gateway to much colder air from Canada. 

Here is the expected upper-level setup by Tuesday/Wednesday Jan 2-3, 2012:

I'm expecting the coldest air of the season (thus far) to move south next week.  This looks to be short-lived, but still temperatures could drop to -5 or -10 and only reach into the single digits during the day.

For constant weather updates and information, be sure to find me on Twitter! @SteveGlazier