If You Hate Arctic Weather Some (Uncertain) Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Maybe take it with a bit of  grain of salt, but after the expected
Christmas cold snap this year, the period of time around
New Year could be on the warm side for all of the Lower 48.

 Weather news is filled with horror and dread about the intense Arctic cold snap poised to envelop the eastern two thirds of the nation between now and Christmas.  

And it is dreadful. As noted this morning, wind chills of 50 below will blast the northern Plains, and temperatures will drop well below freezing all the way down to the Gulf Coast. And a big Midwestern blizzard seems to be prepared to throw itself into the mix.   

Weather pundits are calling this potentially the worst December cold snap since an epic one at Christmastime, 1989. 

If you look at forecasts beyond Christmas, though, signs point more and more to the idea that this frigid blast will be mercifully brief.

Then today's daily National Weather Service 8 to 14 day outlook came out. It covers the dates from December 27 through January 2. It shows the entire Lower 48 bathed in warmer than normal temperatures. 

It's quite rare to see all of the Lower 48 in either above or below normal temperatures. Usually, part of the nation is chilly, while other parts are toasty. 

Of course, there's the caveat that these long range forecasts are quite iffy, so there's definitely no guarantee that the days around the New Year holiday will be balmy. Some parts of the United States might end up being on the cool side.  But the forecast is a good sign that the Christmas Arctic blast is not necessarily a sign that the entire winter will be bitter for the U.S. 

Which is good for a lot of reasons. Especially since heating oil and natural gas are expensive and supplies are tight. 

There's another down side to this potentially warm period around the New Year. This same long range forecast issued Monday suggests above normal precipitation for all of the Lower 48 except eastern New England and Texas. 

That suggests a stormy pattern, which would bring its own share of trouble.