Clipper Pattern Favors Northern Snow Into Next Week

In the Midwest, light-to-moderate snow fell across the south earlier this week and a front brought some light snow to the Great Lakes on Wednesday. Heavy rain this past weekend led to drought reduction around Illinois. The pattern favors clippers moving through starting on Friday and continuing just about every day through next week. Clippers usually bring streaks of snow that may be moderate or heavy in small locations, but are hard to diagnose more than just a couple of days out. Therefore, some heavy snow may fall in some areas.

In the Northern Plains, some snow fell across the High Plains this week, but most areas have remained dry. That is until Thursday night as the pattern will promote clipper systems moving through just about on a daily basis. Clippers tend to produce streaks of moderate-to-heavy snow at times and a few streaks may set up across the region through next week. Some warmer air coming down off the mountains may cause a mix of rain with the snow next week.

In the Central and Southern Plains, a system brought a streak of snow across Kansas and southern Nebraska early this week as well as scattered showers in the southeast. A front that moved through two days later is producing snow across the High Plains that extends to Oklahoma on Thursday as well. The pattern turns to clippers going through next week. This causes limited showers and mostly across the north, though cold fronts coming through may produce some limited showers as well next week. Last week’s heavy precipitation in Texas reduced drought across much of the state, but not for the southwest which saw drought increase.

In the Delta, heavy rain moved through earlier this week and a system brought more heavy rain to southern areas on Thursday. Drought conditions still exist in some parts of the region. But a turn to clipper systems likely won’t bring much precipitation through next week.

In the Southeast, scattered showers moved through earlier this week, and the combination from a system that moved through over the weekend helped to reduce drought in many areas. Drought is still deep across portions of the region, however. But another system riding along through the region should bring through some heavy rain to end the week and help those most in drought. The pattern goes drier for next week though as the main storm track is off to the north.

In the Western U.S., precipitation last week helped to reduce some drought in Nevada and eastern Washington, but drought still covers a large area of the region. Showers that moved through northern areas this week should be helpful. Northern areas will continue to be favored with the storm track, which should help to build snowpack in the mountains and reduce drought across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com