AccuWeather's Jon Porter looks ahead to next week when the Thanksgiving holiday could be stormy for many regions in the eastern half of the United States while bringing rain and snow.
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00:00You and I met with the long-range team yesterday, Joe Lumberg, the crystal ball, and also Paul
00:06Pastelok.
00:07And, you know, we noticed such a huge change in the weather pattern that's underway.
00:12And we're really starting to highlight that first week in December.
00:18That's right.
00:19Paul has been highlighting this threat for months ahead of all other node sources, that
00:23the coldest week in December can be the first week of December.
00:27And we're going to be going into a much colder pattern here in the central and eastern part
00:32of the United States with some threats for snow.
00:35Yeah, now the question is, as we go forward here, we certainly think this is going to
00:39be, probably, John, the first significant amount of lake effect snow.
00:44Oftentimes, when you get the cold air in place, then you worry about snow.
00:49While it doesn't look like there's going to be any big storms, at least for the first
00:53few days of December, it's the latter half of that week, the 5th, 6th, or 7th, that we're
01:00at least going to keep an eye on the possibility for a coastal storm.
01:03Right.
01:04It looks like it could be cold enough for snow even at the coast if we get a storm.
01:09If the storm is too far to the east, then that would minimize the threat.
01:12But that's certainly something to watch.
01:14And as you mentioned, as that cold air pours over the unfrozen Great Lakes, we're going
01:19to have multiple opportunities for some significant lake effect snow downwind of the lakes.
01:24All right.
01:25Before we get to December, let's talk about next week.
01:27Big dip in the jet stream, John, and with that, hey, listen, you get that huge temperature
01:31contrast that starts northern plains, it's cold, southeastern United States, it's going
01:36to be on the warm side here.
01:38We're going to get, with that dip in the jet stream, what that's going to do for Thanksgiving,
01:41John.
01:42But of course, hey, listen, we've been talking about this, big travel week upcoming next
01:47week.
01:48It sure is.
01:49And as you get that variation in the air masses, that creates sort of a storm highway that
01:53you can get impulses to come from the central part of the United States to the east.
01:57There's going to be just enough cold air to the north that on the northern side of this
02:01storm we're going to be looking at the risk for some snow and even some ice.
02:05That's problems start on Tuesday out across the Intermountain West and the West Coast
02:11and also near the Great Lakes where we can deal with some travel challenges and spots.
02:16But then during the day on Wednesday, some more challenges in the interior northeast.
02:20But here's our next storm system organizing in the central plains.
02:23Now yesterday, John, we drew a scenario map here that, you know, if the storm's a little
02:29stronger, it heads a little farther toward the north.
02:32If it's a little weaker, it heads toward the southeast.
02:35What we've decided to do was kind of take a little compromise between the two.
02:39Not a huge storm, but an impactful one Thursday into Friday.
02:45I think that's the key point.
02:46It's not going to be a huge storm, but it is going and it's going to be moving right
02:50along.
02:51So that means that the impacts can spread from the central part of the United States
02:53on Wednesday out to the east coast here by Friday.
02:57And look on the northern side of this from parts of the upper Midwest in toward the interior
03:03northeast.
03:04There's going to be just enough cold air so there can be some snow on the northern side
03:08of this.
03:09Otherwise, we're looking at rain and some travel disruptions to the south associated
03:12with that.
03:13But the big story will be the cold air that follows that storm.
03:16In fact, we want to end with that, John.
03:18You know, if there's one thing we want you to take away from this as we get in to next
03:23weekend and that first week of December, we're looking at, dare I say, January cold, but
03:32certainly winter cold across much of the eastern half of the United States.
03:36Yeah, I think this is going to be a shock to the system for many people here with this
03:40widespread cold, the snow near the lakes.
03:43And then we are going to be watching for a couple of storm threats here, even along the
03:48east coast.
03:49So you want to be with us frequently here on the AccuWeather network, AccuWeather.com
03:52and the AccuWeather app.
03:53We've got great features for tracking snow and ice, including that winter cast feature
03:58that provides information right down to your backyard, how much snow is expected, what
04:02is the prospects for a little bit more, a little bit less.
04:05Great resource, especially as we head into a very active travel time period.