AccuWeather long-range expert Joe Lundberg was live on the AccuWeather Network on Jan. 24 to break down what to expect for next week.
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00:00I want to bring in our long-range expert, you know who he is, the crystal ball meteorologist
00:04Joe Lumber.
00:05Joe, let's talk about what is going to be a far different pattern next week compared
00:10to this week.
00:11Final days of the month of January, Bernie, and there's still going to be some cold on
00:15the playing field, but nothing like what we've seen over the past five or seven days.
00:20There is a January thaw in the works, and you just saw it with those forecasts for the
00:23Gulf Coast region.
00:25The South will see that warm-up, as will the Plains states.
00:27Now, there will be some shots of colder air that will come through the Great Lakes and
00:30the Northeast, especially middle to latter part of next week.
00:33Meanwhile, looking down the road toward next weekend, another storm threat coming out of
00:38Texas and working its way east and northeast, and that could have some problems in terms
00:42of snow ice.
00:43And you can see why.
00:44If you look at the jet stream, notice this split.
00:46Here's the northern branch.
00:47Here's the southern branch.
00:48This is the upper-level feature that's going to bring your rain to Southern California,
00:51the much-needed rain this weekend.
00:54That moves away.
00:55There'll be an offshore flow behind it, so a concern for Santa Ana winds.
00:58Meanwhile, this system's not going to go away.
01:00So as it travels eastward, you open up the Gulf of Mexico, you get some wet weather in
01:04here early in the week, and then again later in the week.
01:06The question is, where is that storm going to go, Bernie?
01:09And that's with the cold air in place, the farther north and east it goes, it's going
01:12to run into problems down the road.
01:14You know, the concern is for Southern California.
01:16Again, the same storm that brings them the rain, Joe, produces the problems with the
01:20Santa Anas.
01:21And even though we're going to finally get some meaningful rains in Southern California,
01:28we have a long way to go for this winter because they haven't had any rain in Southern California.
01:33It's really concerning how quickly the drought has returned to these areas over the past
01:39few months.
01:40There's just been an utter lack of rain so far this rainy season for southern portions
01:43of California.
01:44And that's one of the contributing factors to the wildfires there.
01:47And you've had these features that have come through that have produced this offshore flow.
01:51This one is far enough south and west.
01:53You pointed out when you and I talked off-air, Bernie, that a difference of a few hundred
01:57miles makes all the difference.
01:58If that feature had come in like this, you'd have the offshore flow, there'd be no rain.
02:02Unfortunately for them, it's actually going to be just largely offshore, and you bring
02:05in that moisture from up the Pacific, and you bring them some much-needed rain.
02:08But behind it, then the offshore flow returns and the risk of renewed wildfire threats later
02:14next week.
02:15Now, these upper lows that come into California, Joe, we eventually have to deal with them
02:21in the eastern United States.
02:22Now, what's interesting is you remember the old Norm MacDonald rule, where the storm comes
02:28in California along the west coast, it exits at the same latitude along the east coast.
02:36And that's why while most of the modeling has this storm going farther north, we're
02:40worried it could still take a southern track, right?
02:42Yeah, it's not a slam dunk.
02:44Some of the computer forecasts in the last 24 hours have taken this more toward the Great
02:47Lakes.
02:48But if that old rule works, it would probably take a track more like this.
02:52And there's plenty of cold air lying in wait late next week and next weekend.
02:56So as it runs into that, there's a threat for snow and ice north of the track of the
03:00storm, rain across the south.
03:01You don't have to worry about any form of precipitation there.
03:04Behind the storm early the first week of February, there will be some more cold air that will
03:07come into play.
03:08All right.
03:09Thank you for the long range expert, meteorologist Joe Lumberg, breaking it down for us for next
03:14week.
03:15Thanks, Joe.