Hi everyone,

I am sometimes reluctant to post these updates, because I usually want to let you know of what's coming in the next 2-3 weeks, and it's very difficult (almost impossible) to forecast past 7 days. That's why I always have somewhat vague qualifiers about what could happen, because things can change when trying to forecast in the 2-3 week range.

With that said, there are quite a few indications that we are finally going to see some pretty cold air in the next 3 weeks. You may have heard about near record breaking cold (for March) in northern Canada. That cold air has been building for a couple of weeks. I mentioned it back in late February. It's finally going to start moving south, and is going to hit the NE U.S. later this week, with near record cold there. We are only going to get a glancing blow in Oklahoma, but it will be chilly. It looks like lots of highs in the 40s/50s and lows in the 20s/30s, starting Saturday. And this may last much of next week. The following weekend will see a warm up back to the 70's (or higher). However, it may be short-lived, as we could see some even colder air after that (March 20-23 range). If the current modelling is close to correct (and that's a big if this far ahead), that cold snap could be the coldest air we've seen since January. The Climate Prediction Center's outlooks haven't picked up on this chance for a cold outbreak yet, but I bet they will in the next few days.

So this is just a "heads-up" of what the medium-range models are showing, and what could happen. Maybe the cold air will continue to be deflected eastward, like much of this winter. The current models aren't showing that so far, but we have time.

Lee