Signs of Colder Air Returning Before Christmas

You live by your long range outlook sword and die by it.

This past summer and fall, we hinted that the variables present across the globe were conducive for a colder/snowier winter ahead. November big start out of the gate was a big sign that winter will be cold and snowier than average.

This brings me to the present "break" in the arctic air.

High temps across the eastern US trend slightly above normal by the weekend. Typically when November temperatures average as cold as last month did, bounce-backs are not that uncommon in December.

What has me concerned is the Typhoon in the eastern Pacific. Two models have it recurving back to the northeast next week with it eventually getting absorbed into the Alaskan low which boosts the western ridge making eastern US troughs/colder intrusions that much easier.

The American Model also shows the recurvature by December 10th

 The European is the only outlier with a more westerly track.

Remember the old Typhoon Rule? It states that when Typhoons recurve north and east near Japan, this signifies the overall pattern is conducive for below normal temperatures across the eastern US. See my post a few weeks back on this HERE.

The PNA pattern is showing a strong tendency toward positive which indicated the ridge is rebuilding in the west which drops the trough/colder air east.

I ran a composite of all December years where the PNA index was PLUS ONE OR HIGHER and MINUS ONE OR LOWER. You can see how these correlate strongly to extreme temperatures cold and warm.

PNA at -1 or Below correlates to MILDER EAST

PNA at +1 or Higher correlates to COLDER EAST

Sure enough, the European and Canadian models both develop the beginnings of an eastern trough by December 16-17.

So unless the typhoon tracks further west and doesn't recurve and the PNA pattern (which has trended colder across the US for a while now does a complete 180 degree flip), I would expect temperatures to trend colder the week before Christmas with higher chances of lake effect snow.