Cold, Snow to Progress Quickly Through the West

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

January 7,2013; 6:14PM,EST

Before arctic air hits the Plains and East later this month, cold air will quickly progress through the West with a couple of storms tagging along.
Steering currents, known as the jet stream will dip southward in the West this week. The pattern will allow cold air to drive quickly through much of the region.

Meteorologist Courtney Spammer describes a storm bringing rain and mountain snow to the Northwest to start the week.

The cold storms will result in travel problems along major routes including I-5, I-40, I-70, I-80 and I-90.

As that storm pivots inland during the middle of the week it will open the door for cold air to spill southward along the West Coast.

Some snow will fall over the northern Sierra Nevada during the middle of the week, as well as over portions of the Great Basin and Wasatch Range.
Late in the week, the same storm and its snow will reach areas from the Arizona mountains to the central Rockies and part of the Plains.

A second storm is forecast to track along the southern Alaska coast, then turn southward toward the coastal Northwest.

A rabbit snowman in Seattle? Image was taken following a prior year snowfall. (Photos.com image)

Early indications are that enough cold air may be in place to bring snow or a rain/snow mix to Portland and Seattle Saturday night into Sunday.
The second storm could spread another round of snow over part of the Great Basin to Colorado and the central Rockies early next week.

Not much snow is going to melt in the West over the next week. In some areas of the West, the snowcover will thicken and may become more extensive by Jan. 14, 2013.

A push of cold air that follows that storm could bring the lowest temperatures of the season so far to portions of the Great Basin and West Coast states for a one- to three-day stretch.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "While some of the growing areas of California have had minor frost and freeze issues already during December and the first part of January, this event will be watched closely for its magnitude and severity, as well as the impact on agriculture in the region."
It does appear that temperatures will trend upward rather quickly in the wake of that cold push early next week.

AccuWeather.com Long Range Experts headed by Paul Pastelok expect that as the cold air becomes established over the Central and Eastern states later in the month that the West will warm up significantly.