Image: SWC Forecast Center
February 7, 2021
❄ Several Waves of Snow will traverse through the Missouri and Ohio Valleys this week, with several inches of snow expected for some areas...
The pattern is becoming quite active as we progress into the second week of February. Multiple waves will traverse the central Plains, Midwest, Great Lakes, and Ohio Valley. The first wave comes in Monday evening into Tuesday morning. Areas shaded in white on the map above should pick up minor accumulations up to an inch. Places lying within the blue can expect up to two inches, with locally higher amounts. On the southern edge of the blue, running into the purple, mixing issues look likely. A small accumulation of snow is anticipated, but the greater risk will be ice accumulation with low-level cold air hanging on.

Models have struggled mightily with exact placement, so minor changes are possible. The key factor over the last couple of runs is the trend towards a colder solution. More data has been sampled by other atmospheric features leaning towards colder profiles.

Image: SWC Forecast Center
February 7, 2021
A second, and more impressive wave will race into the region Tuesday night and Wednesday. Energy coming ashore tonight will zip along a fairly zonal 500mb mean flow. With a very active sub-tropical jet, ample moisture will feed into this developing system and cause precipitation to break out. Cold air being well in place will lead to fresh snowfall for the middle of the week. Once again, areas shaded in blue run the highest risk of picking up several inches of snow, while farther north, lighter amounts are anticipated. As always, mixing issues get involved along the southern edge of the cold dome. Better analysis will come with Wave 2 as the new week peogresses, with yet a third, and possibly fourth wave by the end of the next weekend.

❄ Forecast provided by: Meteorologist Joshua Ketchen

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