First, I want to remind you of the cold front passing tonight into tomorrow morning which will bring rain, a quick dump of snow and then cold temperatures.
It will affect morning travel and schools. Cold temperatures will keep roads icy throughout day tomorrow, especially shaded spots.
Now The Scheduled Programming
I wanted to reiterate the weather pattern that we are under.
Cold air is being consistently shot down towards the eastern portion of the country every few days or so. Temperatures will hardly break freezing most days till at least the end of the month. Even if warm upper air crosses over our region shortly, cold air damming caused by the mountains maintains cold for the east coast very well.
For More information on cold air damming, check my weather terminology post GENERAL WEATHER TERMS (AN ONGOING LIST) (inglisbri.wixsite.com) and visit this link What is Cold Air Damming (the Wedge)? – iWeatherNet
This pattern started earlier this month and will continue at least till the end of the month. This pattern supplies cold air to the region and heightens possibilities for winter storms. Things just need to line up.
This map is an upper air height anomaly map. I show this type of map a lot and I wanted to explain it a little. It tells us how cold or warm the upper air is compared to normal for that area. If you see red up in Canada, it does not mean Canada is hot, Canada is still cold, just not as cold as normal.
For the eastern U.S. colder than normal air (blue and purple) dips down over a region multiple times in the next 10 days.
Post from January 10th about cold upper air pattern and related storms
The upper air pattern is in place
In order to monitor for cold surges, it is important to look at the upper air maps and to pick out patterns in how these air masses are moving. In the upper air map below, the blue areas constitute a cold air trough and red areas constitute a warm air ridge.
This is another version of an upper air anomaly map. Just a less hectic visual than the map above.
Currently, and for the next 2 weeks (Now more) or so, we have a constant cycle of arctic air (upper air troughs) into the United States. This would set up numerous potential winter storms for our region. Frigid arctic air should dive south four or five times in the next two weeks or so. We will see how it all plays out, but we are likely to get a variety of winter storms in the coming weeks.
What Does This Mean for Maryland?
These surges of cold air create intense temperature difference between air masses as it surges further south. This temperature gradient creates fast upper-level winds along the boundary, stirring up storms to form. Wherever this Jet stream forms, you can expect a winter storm to follow upon it. If these air masses set up in the right areas, the east coast is in for a winter storm.
Insight Into a Classic Maryland Winter Storm
UPPER AIR TROUGH AND JET STREAM Jan 18th 2022
Troughs bring cold air to our area and at the same time creates an intense temperature gradient in the region outlined and therefore enhancing the jet stream. A surface low aka a storm could possibly form on the ascending branch of the jet stream.
RESULTING STORM Jan 18th
This storm is directly related to the image above. You can even see the upper air trough providing cold air by looking at the dashed blue and red lines. The storm itself gains its moisture from the gulf and the ocean. Finally, the storm rides along this trough and up the coast strengthening rapidly due to such an intense trough and jet stream. Furthermore, you can see that Maryland is just outside any substantial periods of snow. This is because the upper air trough is settling in too far eastward, and the jet stream/temperature gradient where the storm forms is also then eastward. If this trough shifts just 50 miles or so west, then we have a blockbuster winter storm setting up.
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