Twin States Weather Blog

Cold February?

* First, this weekend looks wet at times. The first bout of rain will come late Saturday afternoon and last through Sunday morning. We'll see a break in the action Sunday afternoon, with more showers on the way for Sunday night into Monday morning. Much colder air will steam into the Deep South behind this second system, as temperatures Monday will likely fall through the 50's.

* We continue to note the massive buildup of cold air across parts of Alaska and the North Pole. An evaluation of a few teleconnections indicates that some of this could be heading southward in the next few weeks. Teleconnections are great forecasting tools. By evaluating the current weather in other parts of the world, we can get a good idea about what our weather might do. The primary teleconnections we use are the SOI (Southern Oscillation Index), NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and AO (Arctic Oscillation). Negative values of the NAO and AO often indicate a trough in the East. Assuming there is cold air in the source region (Canada, Alaska, Siberia, the North Pole, etc.), this frequently leads to a major intrusion of cold air. We'll watch it clsoely.

posted by WTOK Weather Staff @ 9:54 PM