Bitter Cold Weather Not A Concern For Northern U.S. Plains
By Andrew Owen
Kansas City, December 17 (World Weather Inc.) – Nighttime temperatures will dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit in portions of the northern Plains during the next two days. The region is covered in enough snow to shield winter wheat and other crops from the potentially damaging cold. After this cold airmass shifts out of the region by the end of the weekend, temperatures will rebound into a warmer than normal mode for this time of year. Later next week, travel conditions in portions of the eastern and central U.S. may be impacted by a major winter 
storm causing widespread rain and significant snowfall to slow travel for the coming Christmas Holiday and to stress livestock.
Most areas near and north of a line from northeastern Colorado through northern Wisconsin are blanketed by snow due to recent precipitation. Winter wheat is protected from the elements in these locations. There are a few pockets that do not have much more than a dusting of snow on the ground in Montana and western North Dakota, though there should be enough snow to protect winter crops from the borderline damaging cold conditions that will evolve over the next night or two.
A cold airmass began drifting across the northern Plains Thursday will continue spreading its cold across the central and eastern United States through Saturday. Temperatures will drop a few degrees below average for this time of year in many areas, but much of the cold will be seasonable for mid-December. However, after so many warmer than usual weeks, the cold will feel more unusual than it will really be. Low temperatures Friday and Saturday mornings will drop into the positive and negative single digits across the northern Plains. Portions of Montana, northern North Dakota, and northern Minnesota will be coldest Friday morning with a few slipping as low as -8. Saturday’s temperatures will be similar in Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, and northeastern South Dakota. Nighttime lows during the balance of the coming seven days will only dip into the positive upper single digits and teens.
No damage to winter wheat will occur during the next few mornings in the northern Plains because of the significant snow cover. Some single digit low temperatures will also occur Friday and Saturday in part of the central Plains – but only in areas that have significant snow on the ground. Lowest temperatures in the Midwest and central Plains will not likely slip lower than the teens and 20s.
Snow will be important for the northern Plains over the winter. Northwestern portions of the Plains and southwestern parts of Canada’s neighboring Prairies have a shortage of soil moisture and will welcome significant snowfall over the winter to potentially improve soil conditions in the early spring as the snow melts. Melting snow will be very important if El Nino prevails through the winter and into spring since that will result in less precipitation in the spring forcing crops to rely on melting snow to provide a moisture boost ahead of planting.
Some additional snow is predicted for later next week as a major winter storm evolves. This new storm will not only have an impact on the northern Plains, but over the central and southern Plains Midwest and Delta. Travel could be seriously impacted due to the complexity of the storm that is being suggested.
World Weather, Inc. is monitoring the potential for a complex storm system that would produce two and possibly three waves of significant precipitation across the U.S. Plains, Midwest and Delta starting near the Christmas Holiday and lasting through the following weekend. The details of this storm are still unclear, but it will likely have a huge impact on travel and livestock conditions, especially during the post-holiday weekend. Many inches of snow may accumulate from the west-central Plains into the northern Plains and upper Midwest while a few inches of rain occur to the east from northeastern Texas into the heart of the Midwest and northern Delta. The pattern is not very deviant from that of recent past precipitation events, but the storm could snarl traffic and delay the trip home for many folks.
The complex storm in the Plain and Midwest will also raise the potential for flooding from northeastern Texas and Arkansas to the Great Lakes region. Most days next week will bring back warmer than usual temperatures to the eastern half of the nation while cold air pools in the western states. These two pooling’s of anomalously cool and warm air will set the stage for the significant precipitation event, especially since the surface airflow will be southerly bringing moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the initial precipitation will come from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean as a storm moves through that region and toward the Plains. More details about this potential storm will be released as we get closer to that period of time.
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