Travel & RV Weather Extended Outlook updated p.m. Wednesday 8 December 2021

Extended outlooks are more general in nature than the daily short term forecasts. Beyond a week, there is often significant uncertainty in the location and intensity of specific weather events. I will note where there is less, or greater, confidence than normal in these extended outlooks.

For more information, check out the latest weather animations.

Here is the latest short term weather forecast.

The snow drought ends (at least temporarily) for the West with a series of strong storms that enter the west coast, bring heavy snows and high winds to the Rockies, then head northeast to the Great Lakes with near-blizzard conditions north of their track.
The East remains relatively dry and unseasonably mild, at least for the next two weeks.

Outlook for Friday – Sunday 10-12 December:

— Powerful storm develops east of the CO Rockies, rapidly strengthens and moves to the Great Lakes by Saturday afternoon.

— Snow for the Central Rockies, then NE, SD, MN, IA and WI.

— Possibility of severe weather Saturday afternoon and night in the Lower Mississippi River Valley

— Very strong winds over the Upper Midwest on Saturday.

— Next Pacific storm moves onshore Saturday to WA and OR. Valley rains and mountain snows.

— Dry east of the Rockies. Windy over the Northeast.

Outlook for Monday – Wednesday 13-15 December:

— Rain and higher elevation snows continue for WA, OR and spreading over much of CA on Monday.

— Snow moves into the Great Basin and Inter-Mountain West on Tuesday, with rain spreading across UT and AZ.

— Another intense storm forms in the lee of the Central Rockies Wednesday, bringing extensive snows to much of the Rocky Mountain range and high winds across the Southwest and western Plains.

— Dry east of the Rockies. Much milder than normal across the central U.S.

Here are the temperature and precipitation outlooks for Friday – Tuesday 10-14 December

Average temperature difference, relative to normal, Friday – Tuesday 10-14 December
Percentage of precipitation, relative to normal, through Tuesday 14 December. Red and brown is drier than normal; green and blue is wetter than normal.
Snowfall amounts through Wednesday 15 December. Note how little snow is forecast east of the Mississippi.
High winds forecast for the central Rockies and Western Plains on Wednesday 15 December.