Matt Makens

The weather pattern for the rest of January is shifting and that will be of great benefit to the Southwest US where water resources are strapped.

Weather pattern change to help the Western US water woes

The weather pattern for the rest of January is shifting and that will be of
great benefit to the Southwest United States where water resources are strapped.

The map above is a view of the rest of January for estimated precipitation for
the Southwestern US. Part of Arizona and California to see well over two inches
of water, and parts of Northern California can hit over four inch precipitation
marks in the next ten days. Not to exclude Colorado's San Juans where quite a
bit of water is expected, too.

For the first time in a long time we see wetter than average conditions
projected in this drought stressed region. Here are the projected anomalies.

Let's look at snowfall for the same time period. Boom:

We see that the probability of receiving at least two feet of snowfall touches
on areas of California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado:

When we look at the snowpack report, the overwhelming number of basins reporting
lower than average snowpack is concerning.

For those that see minimal reports out of California... data is 'missing' for
those SNOTEL sites.

This shift, clearly, is a needed one for water resources in this region.

For Colorado's metro area locations, some snow and rain are possible to close
out January. However, as of this moment data does not suggest it will be much,
if any, notable accumulations. This fits our previous discussions that call for
drier than average conditions leeward of the mountains.

Here are a couple of those discussions:

PNA may finally flip, what that means for the weather pattern across Colorado
and the West for the second half of JanuaryWe’ve been teased before, but this
time the support for a PNA flip grows and that’ll mean parts of Colorado and
the
region may catch a bit of winter this winter.Matt MakensJan 15, 2021Weather5280
[https://www.weather5280.com/2021/01/15/pna-may-finally-flip-what-that-means-for-the-weather-pattern-across-colorado-and-the-west-as-we-enter-the-second-half-of-january]
A look ahead to February, knowing how dry we are currentlyFebruary on the
whole,
we expect most areas in the Central US, to end with average to below average
precipitation, and temperatures average to above average. Much like the pattern
from 2020.Weather5280Jan 14, 2021Weather5280
[https://www.weather5280.com/2021/01/14/a-look-ahead-to-february-knowing-how-dry-we-are-currently]

Weather pattern change to help the Western U.S. water woes