Strong cold front next week to bring winter-like temperatures
You’ve probably heard the old saying, if you don’t like the weather in Missouri now, just wait five minutes.
This October has been all about temperature swings with the start of the month seeing 90s, with frosty temps in the 30s last week.
However, a stronger push of cold, winter-like air looks like it will be on the way next week.
A large chunk of the Midwest and central plains, including mid-Missouri has a 70% chance to experience below average temperatures. The key being below average. This will likely put day-time highs which may not get out of the 40s, with lows as cold as the 20s.
Some data has even indicated upper teens, to– although, temperatures that cold are probably being overdone by weather models…
The reason we’ll be so cold? The polar vortex!
Yep, the same phenomenon we see in the winter that brings bitter arctic weather.
Except the vortex itself is not as cold yet. The vortex can play a role all year long, but at the moment, it hasn’t become fully “charged” with cold air, which is why it’s only giving us this brief snippet of winter-like temperatures.
This may also have you asking… could it snow? Maybe. It depends on whether we can get a storm system to meet up with this cold air… and not only that, the two need to meet up on top of mid-Missouri. That can be a tough combination to come by, especially this early in the season.
In fact, October snow stats show an extremely unlikely case for snow before the end of this month. The most snow Columbia Regional Airport has ever measured this month was one-tenth of an inch back in 1976… But… not out of the question.
You may also remember the quick start to winter that we had last year as well, with several accumulating snow events in November 2018. This type of early-season cold blast could mean we’re in for a similar “quick-start” to winter here in mid-Missouri.
Maybe it’s time to break out the Frosty the Snowman Costume this Halloween.
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