Mother Nature sure seems more in tuned with the winter season these days. Obviously we're no longer going through those warm stretches of 60 or 70 degree weather - that's for sure. In the future it's going to stay chilly. You could almost say our weather will be downright cold on some days.
(Arctic oscillation depicting a cold outlook for February)
To be honest, we saw this pattern shift coming a mile away. The long term models were hinting at a colder stretch of weather and the arctic oscillation was heading into a negative phase...those are usually clear cut signs that colder air is coming to the country.
Now that we know that cooler days are ahead the bigger question becomes how cold it will get around here. The reason this is key is because several weather models are showing a couple rounds of precipitation rolling through the state. Obviously if temperatures are around 32 degrees near the surface, we could see that precipitation switch over to sleet, freezing rain or even snow.
Case and point, next week the computer models are showing a weak upper level disturbance rushing to Arkansas on Monday. As this disturbance moves through the state it will carry precipitation with it. Since temperatures will be near freezing it will be interesting to watch what will unfold. At this time it's too soon to tell...but the leading consensus is that we could see freezing rain fall for a brief period in Central Arkansas.
As more models come into play we'll get a better feel for how Monday and other days will turn out so keep it tuned to the FOX 16 blog post for more information.
