Beige Christmas Beyond, Vortexish Chill Looming?

Now that our white Christmas drama is over, weather eyes scanned the horizon for true winter chill. According to most weather prognosticators, January seemed destined to live up to its bitter billing -- at least for the beginning.

What Color Will Christmas Be?

Concern over whether a white Christmas was in store for the Twin Cities was becoming a topic of greater and greater interest among the local folk. We won't say obsessed, but you get the idea. We sat down with Tom Novak (@NovakWeather) and Patrick Hammer to discuss possibilities in this video.

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A Backwards December?

After an unusually cold November, weather eyes in Minnesota turned to maps suggesting a much warmer than average December was on the horizon. Indeed there was a collective sense that a major pattern shift was ongoing, with your intrepid blog author and former Minnesotan looking out at big puddles in Northern California.

Might there be any possibility that December will clock in warmer than November? Several years ago when a summery March took over the country, April was actually colder than March in Minnesota. So a seasonal reversal would not be unprecedented.

As always, time will tell. Use this space to comment on warm air that's coming (or not) and any snow (or rain!) that may be coming.

First Arctic Siege Nears End, Winter Storm on the Horizon?

With the season's first, most premature cold spell nearing expiration, Upper Midwest weather eyes turned to the possibility of a storm for early next week. Use this space to track your thoughts on what might be spinning up.

Here's what the NWS had to say in their 10:25 a.m. update this Wednesday morning:

SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY REALLY LOOKS TO BE THE TIME PERIOD OF UTMOST CONCERN...GIVEN BOTH GFS AND ECMWF MODELS CRANK NORTHWEST WINDS UP TO 25-35 MPH /SUSTAINED/ IN CONJUNCTION WITH DEFORMATION SNOW TAKING PLACE AS THE AFOREMENTIONED LOW DEEPENS FURTHER AND PIVOTS NORTH-NORTHWEST TO LAKE SUPERIOR. WILL DEFINITELY NEED TO MONITOR FOR THE BLOWING SNOW POTENTIAL...WITH NOTABLE SNOW ACCUMS ALSO A POSSIBILITY. HOWEVER...MODELS HAVE LACKED RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY WITH THEIR HANDLING OF THE KEY PLAYER...THE STRENGTH OF THE NORTHERN STREAM SHORTWAVE...SO HAVE KEPT SNOW CHANCES IN THE LOW CHANCE CATEGORY AT THIS POINT.