The general weather pattern this week features multiple clippers, as discussed last week here: https://www.dtnpf.com/…. But it is also coming with very little change in temperature. In fact, temperatures are largely above normal all week long across the vast majority of the United States. However, one of these clippers will be able to attach itself to some colder air and send it down through the eastern half of the country this weekend and early next week.

The cause for the clippers is a persistent upper-level ridge over the western and central U.S. providing a block. At the same time, an upper-level trough over the North Pacific is providing the energy.

Usually, these two features would move and systems would come and go. But both these features are rather stubborn, leading to a somewhat repeatable pattern of having systems spin off from the trough, go over the top of the ridge along the Canadian border, then down into the Great Lakes before arcing back up into eastern Canada. One already did so Nov. 2-3. Another is doing so on Nov. 4 and will continue in that same path through the Great Lakes on Nov. 5. Yet another will do something similar for Nov. 6-7. Each of these systems are riding along the edge of the ridge, underneath a weak and shifting trough in eastern Canada.

This particular trough has been formed as part of the North Pacific trough. It has pulled cooler air from the North Pacific, but it is not arctic air from northern Canada or the North Pole. Therefore, these clippers are just moving along the edge, not changing the weather pattern in any significant way. Only streaks of mostly lighter precipitation are occurring with these clippers. Some breezy winds are occurring as well, but generally not hazardous. The difference in temperature is just not strong enough to do that.

It will be the fourth clipper in the train that will finally do something different.

While the eastern Canada trough is not particularly cold, there is a little one up in the northern Canadian islands just west of Greenland that is looking to join the party. Much lower temperatures are found there; below zero Fahrenheit early Tuesday morning. That trough will generally drift southward through Canada during the next few days, settling into Hudson Bay and replacing the milder Pacific trough with a colder Arctic one. Enter the last clipper in the train, which will actually find itself in position to take advantage of this blob of colder air.

As the clipper works across the Great Lakes for Nov. 8-9, it will have the ability to pull that cold air southward into the U.S. To go along with the cold, the last clipper may also produce some snow on its northern edge, and the cold air may bring about some significant lake-effect snow around the Great Lakes.

Temperatures will plummet across the eastern half of the country. Low temperatures are forecast to be in the 20s and 30s F east of the Rockies except near the Gulf where it will be in the 40s. This will be more pronounced on Nov. 10. This burst of cold won't last though; the Plains will already start to see temperatures rising on Nov. 11, and the rest of the central U.S. will see that Tuesday night and Wednesday, Nov. 12. Afterward, temperatures are forecast to rise as the western ridge takes back over through the end of the week. This time, the ridge will not be stagnant and is forecast to push to the eastern U.S. later next week.

That will set up a much different, more-active weather pattern with potential for bigger storm systems for the middle of the country besides all of these clippers. But for this week, a clipper pattern will mean a storm system every other day, and a big burst of cold for a couple of days this weekend into early next week.

To find more weather conditions and your local forecast for free from DTN, head over to https://www.dtnpf.com/…

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com

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