It’s coming back. Will it be as cold as the last one at the beginning of the year? Too soon to say but there are growing signs it will last longer and may come in several waves. Numerical weather ensembles (See last two blog posts) are in remarkable agreement that the cold will return.

The upper level wind flow by the middle of next week will allow the frigid air at the Pole to flow into the northeastern third of the U.S.

Model guidance is indicating temperatures as much as 40 degrees below normal by later next week!

European model guidance showing temperature anomalies for late next week.

This is also bad news for California which continues to deal with an unprecedented drought. It will stay unusually warm and dry, and more fires like the one near Los Angeles today are likely. The image below is from the NASA Aqua satellite and clearly shows the fire at midday Thursday.

NASA Aqua Satellite true colour image of the Southern California fire today. Click to magnify.