The Jet Stream

US weather

Via Facebook

The cold weather pattern that began well before Christmas is showing signs of easing up. While temperatures will dip to -16° Tuesday morning, it looks like we’ll have a remarkable warming trend after that.

The maps to the left show the overall change in jet stream pattern in the next two weeks. Instead of a northwest-southeast orientation of the jet, we’ll have a southwest-northeast orientation. This will bring much milder temps to the Upper Midwest. 30s and 40s are likely for much of next week.

However, don’t pray TOO hard for warmth. Think of the fact we have snow on top of a very frozen ground. If we don’t gradually melt off the snow, we will see serious flooding beginning in a few weeks. So, let’s hope this thaw happens over a longer period of time so we don’t see extreme flooding.

But if you don’t have flood insurance and you live in a flood plain, you might want to think about getting it so you’re covered before the water rises!