AccuWeather's Joe Lundberg looks ahead to next week where extreme cold is expected to grip the U.S. regions east of the Rockies, with snow and ice possible for the southern U.S.
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00:00more cold air. That's the headline. I think for next week, Melissa, you look
00:05at one of the three things to know about next week. Extreme cold. I mean,
00:08Chicago, you've had three days in a row this week with temperatures in the
00:11teens for highs. You're gonna have a couple of days with temperatures a good
00:1410 degrees lower than that coming up early next week, and this is going to
00:17extend across most of the country east of the Rockies for the first half of
00:20next week. At least there are some snow and ice concerns across the southern
00:24tier of states into the southeast Monday and Tuesday and then maybe again
00:27later in the week. Farther north, still dry for the West. The fire danger
00:31remains extraordinarily high there. Unfortunately, here's the big picture
00:34pattern. There's going to be a dip in the jet stream by the middle of next
00:37week. This is an area watch, and I'll explain that in just a moment. Warm and
00:41dry to the west of it. Unfortunately, there may be some offshore flow in some
00:44of those areas of southern California. Meanwhile, across the south, with this
00:47particular dip in the jet stream, you've got an opportunity for some snow
00:51and ice in places like Houston, San Antonio over toward Atlanta and maybe
00:55even the southeast coast. As far as the southern California rain concerns
01:00are, if you look at the pattern right now again, there's a concern for Santa
01:04Anna winds early to midweek is one of those troughs moves on through. Then it
01:08should quiet down. The problem is you need rain, minimal rain chances through
01:12the end of January and probably the beginning of February. Our hope is for
01:16the middle part of the month between, say, the 10th and 17th and maybe a
01:20little bit beyond their couple of weeks in there were some storms may come that
01:23far south, but I'm not very optimistic. Meanwhile, going back to next week
01:26early in the week, that system comes through the southern plains and works
01:30its way toward the southeast coast with it. With all the Arctic air that's in
01:33place, you're gonna see some snow and ice across these areas. Waco to Jackson
01:37to Birmingham to Charleston. Snow and ice could mean slow, you know, slippery
01:41roads and sidewalks and significant travel disruptions. That's only the
01:45first one of those storms. There's a second one that comes along. And if you
01:48look at the jet stream, you can see here early in the week, there's the
01:51genesis of that early week system coming through. And as we put this into
01:55motion, you can see that by late Tuesday, this feature is now working
01:58its way eastward. That's why I think this can get all the way to the
02:00southeast coast. But then here comes this next piece of energy in here, and
02:04that's the seed for trouble. Although this one may have become farther north
02:08and west. And if you look at the scenarios for next week, the concern is
02:12an area of low pressure that starts down in Texas, say, Thursday. Thursday
02:16night has an opportunity to either move north eastward, in which case you've
02:21got snow and ice affecting all of these areas and heavy rain and
02:25thunderstorms in the southeast. Or if it's squashed farther to the south, and
02:28some of the computer forecasts are still suggesting that idea. The snow
02:32and ice is farther south. And meanwhile, you get some rain in here, but not the
02:36heftiness of the rain and the flooding concerns or any severe weather
02:39concerns. So that's all of the table just for next week, Melissa.