A major arctic outbreak is on the way for next week. A storm traversing southern Canada will begin to open the floodgates on Sunday:
Despite the arctic air pouring over the Great Lakes, Sunday will not feature an epic lake effect snow event due to considerable wind shear (wind direction changing with time and altitude). As a result, the lake effect guns won’t sit on anybody for long. However, snow squalls could dump several inches in a hurry over the western Adirondacks with strong winds whipping the fresh snow into a whiteout.
The next panel shows why the upcoming week is going to be very, very cold!
By early next week, the polar vortex (PV) will be parked over eastern Canada. That, in conjunction with the western United States ridge (a manifestation of the positive Pacific North American Oscillation), is a classic signature for the deep freeze over the North Country. The lack of a strong disturbance rounding the base of the Polar Vortex means that my previous idea of a strong storm just after Martin Luther King Day will end up bogus. But that doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of decent pile of fluff Monday afternoon/night as the disturbance interacts with Great Lakes moisture.
A reinforcing shot of cold air will grip us on Tuesday after the disturbance passes by. By mid-week we could easily have a -30*F or colder morning in the Adirondacks, yet another thing we didn’t have last winter.
