Drier, seasonal pattern ahead for the Heartland

Weather

Drier, seasonal pattern ahead for the Heartland

A storm system currently crossing the central and southern Plains will reach the lower Great Lakes region by Saturday and pass near northern New England early next week. Accumulating snow will fall from parts of the central Plains into northern Lower Michigan.

Storm-total rainfall should reach 1 to 2 inches from the mid-South into southern Lower Michigan.

Subsequently, two additional systems will traverse the South, generating scattered showers and—north of the storms’ paths—some snow. In contrast, little or no precipitation will fall during the next 5 days in southern California, the Desert Southwest, and an area stretching from the Dakotas into the upper Great Lakes region. In the Northwest, however, Pacific storminess will result in widespread precipitation, including heavy snow in the Cascades. Much-needed precipitation will extend as far south as northern California.

Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for below-normal temperatures in Maine; near-normal temperatures in other areas from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic Seaboard; and warmer-than-normal weather from the Pacific Coast to the Plains.

Meanwhile, below-normal precipitation from southern California to the central and southern Plains, as well as portions of the mid-South and Midwest, should contrast with wetter-than-normal conditions along the middle and northern Atlantic Coast and from the Pacific Northwest to the northern Plains.