A Christmas Jingle...

Twas' the night before Christmas, and all through the land,
People were getting ready to enjoy a feast that was grand.
The children were eager for the next morning to come,
As all faces were happy, and none seemed to be glum.
But they awoke to a shock in the upper Midwest,
As people looked out to see snow piling up to their chest!
Instead of a calm, happy day, the weather had another plan this winter,
It sent ice pellets flying through the sky like painful splinters.
While the snow was piling up along the Minnesota line,
People in the East thought all, for Christmas, might be fine.
But later that day the skies became dark,
And the change that occurred was sudden and stark.
Freezing rain moved up the Appalachians along I-81,
And caused Christmas travel to be treacherous instead of fun.
The sleet and freezing rain spilled over to just west of I-95,
Which, one week ago, was where a blizzard affected everyone's lives!
Anyway, travel became tricky, but then the surface cold eroded,
And by late-afternoon, the warmth had now exploded,
As temperatures rose into the upper 30s in all places but the mountains,
And the roads saw ice melt into water, like a mild, flowing fountain.
Even though rain abounded in all places of the East,
A white Christmas still occurred as people sat down to their feasts.
So people enjoyed their Christmas Day as airports were not paralyzed,
As those in the East saw mostly rain, while in the Midwest, a blizzard was realized!

Hello this is Junior Meteorologist Kyle Elliott...and a major storm system will affect the majority of the country this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In the Midwest, a blizzard will rage from the Plains to Iowa, Minnesota, and the Upper Great Lakes. Snowfall amounts of one to two feet will be possible as winds gust to 30 and 40 miles per hour. Further east, rain will fall this time as the blizzard of a week ago will be long gone. As the storm center pulls up through Illinois and Iowa, warmer air will charge out ahead of the system up the eastern Seaboard. Even though models may show precipitation being all rain at this point, current snow pack will help hold surface and low-level cold air in place over the Piedmont and Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to New York State...therefore resulting in a period of sleet and freezing rain. Most places of the Piedmont will only see minor icing before precipitation changes over to all rain, but higher elevations may hang on to freezing rain longer and experience more significant ice secretion. Though no snow will fall south of I-90 in New York State this Christmas Day, a white Christmas will still be had as heavy snowpack from the December Blizzard of 2009 will most definitely not have melted yet. So please, if you have to travel this Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in an area of the Midwest or in the Appalachian region where wintry precipitation could occur, drive slowly and take your time. By evening in the East, all precipitation will take the form of plain rain as temperatures rise into the 30s and 40s by nightfall from southern New England to the Mason/Dixon line respectively...but a blizzard will continue to rage in the Midwest through at least early Christmas Day morning. So hope ya'll have a very, Merry Christmas, and I'll talk to ya'll soon! This is Junior Meteorologist Kyle Elliott reporting for the AKStormtracker Forecasting Center!

P.S.: I will not be in the area from December 26th-January 3rd, so I probably will not get a chance to post updates during that time. In essence, I will basically call this my "winter break," so I will update at least one more time before I leave and try to give ya'll my best guess at the weather during that week. Granted, things will change...so my forecast by late December into the first few days of January will probably be different that what I actually predict now...but I will at least give it a shot and hopefully give ya'll a "heads-up" on the snow possibility at the end of the month. But that is for tomorrow's discussion...so have a good one and I'll talk to everyone then!