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Warmth Ready to Mount a Big Comeback

Jan 16, 2012; 11:17 AM ET

Monday, 11:40 a.m.

Arctic air caused the Great Lakes and Northeast into the mid-Atlantic states to shiver since late last week, sending temperatures well below zero Sunday morning across most of upstate New York and northern New England. That particular cold air mass is now in the process of retreating, and what is amazing is how easily it will give up. It will retreat so easily over the next 24 hours that a lot of the precipitation ahead of the next strong cold front will be in the form of rain, not snow! Just amazing that we can finally get the cold air, and what does it matter in terms of what the snow geese really want? Absolutely nothing. I think the term is 'wasted' cold.

The surge of warmth today will be quite impressive from the southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley, then tomorrow throughout the Ohio and Tennessee valleys into the East. I'm talking about widespread double-digit anomalies tomorrow:

This is just the appetizer for the warmth to come. If a one- to two-day surge of warmth can result in those kinds of anomalies, what can happen when you have a several-day run of unimpeded warmth?

In the last prolonged mild weather pattern, a number of records bit the dust. Need I remind you of the complete lack of snowcover in most of the Plains and the feeble snowcover across the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic states (most of which will be gone by the end of the day tomorrow):

So, we strengthen the jet stream late this week, kick out the arctic air that does come into the northern Plains, the Midwest, the Great Lakes and the entire Northeast, and the results will be just stunning. I can't recall seeing this big of an area of greater than 20-degree temperature departures from normal:

This warmth will likely last the rest of January into the early days of February before there is any real chance of change. And with it likely to be that far above normal, once past Friday (or perhaps Saturday in New England), it is hard to see any snow getting put down in much of the country. And we're starting to get closer and closer to that point that even if we do get some snow, it will have a hard time lasting, especially if we're looking at having to wait at least two to maybe even three weeks before that might happen.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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