Major Blast of Arctic Cold Set to Arrive...But How Long Does it Last?

     The first week of 2015 looks to be quite cold across Connecticut as a major blast of Arctic air is pushing towards the state.  An upper-level trough which was responsible for the messy storm system this weekend, is continuing to push through the central-tier of the United States.  As the trough and attendant cold front slide east it will usher in much colder air into the state.  In fact, we may be looking at our coldest temperatures of the 2014-2015 winter season later in the week.

     Right now it appears the worst of the cold will occur between Wednesday and Friday.  This is when computer forecast guidance suggests that the core of the coldest low-level airmass will slide overhead.  During this time, daytime temperatures will only get into the teens with nighttime lows falling close to and even below-zero in the typically colder spots.

     With a much colder airmass becoming established across the state this week, the million dollar question is, will see see any decent snowstorms or snow threats?  The answer to this question is a big fat NO.  The weather pattern this upcoming week is nothing sort of brutal cold and dry.  While there does look to be a developing area of weak low pressure to the south of CT late Tuesday, moisture looks rather starved and the system pretty weak so nothing significant is expected.  Some snow showers can't be ruled out but this may be more likely across far SE MA.

     Looking beyond this upcoming week and next weekend, there are some signals that the pattern will begin to relax a bit and we will see temperatures much closer to average return and perhaps even some days of above-average temperatures.  8-10 day progs from the GFS and ECMWF computer forecast models all suggest that we will see more in the way of ridging developing across the eastern United States and into our area.

Until then, however, it's nothing but brutal cold and dry with no storms expected this week at this time...how boring!