Skidworthy snow in Western New York into Sunday AM, missing the heavier snow to the east. The next storm sends Tuesday Buffalo highs to the upper 40s while producing heavy, blowing snow into the midwest/Chicago, and widespread Severe Tstorms/some Tornadoes over the SE. More storms to come with uncertain tracks and impacts. PLEASE FOLLOW.

An unusually stormy pattern is developing across much of the lower 48, beginning this weekend. The first storm will bring only lighter, occasional mainly snow showers to WNY, with heavier snow inland from the big east coast cities, not in those cities. The next stronger storm may bring some snow, then rain into WNY by Tue PM, with gusty winds and briefly warmer temps. Seasonable cold and strong to possibly high winds arrive Wednesday. The polar vortex will play more of a role in U.S. weather heading into mid-month.

Higher confidence of a wintrier pattern shaping up when we get closer to January 11 into the 2nd half of the month, with a slow progression of the cold from the central states toward the NE...and maybe a real nor'easter next weekend before that to keep an eye on. All the appropriate caveats are included, as it appears the Polar Vortex is finally going to be stretching toward the mid-latitudes.

Once I tweeted Thursday night that the Buffalo Lake Erie temperature is at a record-warm 44 for late December, both the doomsayers and snow freaks came out of the woodwork. Lake effect, as I detailed in an earlier podcast episode, is more complicated than a warm lake and cold air. I also take a look at northern U.S. winter weather prospects in the face of a strong El Nino, in a fairly short episode.

Cleaner air may be allowing more of the sun's heat to reach Earth's surface. It's another paradox which has growing evidence underlying an unanticipated consequence of cleaning up the air we breathe. In a shorter episode, I lay out the basics.

How the owner of the most unsanitary Dairy Queen in the chain, in my hometown, came to get his own chapter in a best-selling Carl Sagan book. I put science aside for this episode, and head into the realm of humor...all of it surrounding true events and amazing (though probably unimportant) coincidences. Please Share & Follow.

The unseasonable warmth will build heading into Christmas and even midweek, next week. After that, there are signs of a more seasonable NW flow returning east of the Rockies, crossing not-very-cold Canada and mostly snowless U.S. territory. This is where a disruption of the Polar Vortex must come into play to deliver true polar cold and wintry weather...I discuss the prospects in a fairly short episode.

A national and regional (Great Lakes, Western New York) forecast for the Christmas holiday, and the extremely slim pickins' nationally for any new snow. I also look at the newest status of a strong El Nino and its natural impacts atop the accelerating warming tied to human activity. We're finishing up the warmest year on record, and next year may be even warmer.

I try to lay out the probabilities of extraterrestrial visits vs the probabilities of extraterrestrial life...VERY different concepts. Maybe it will seem to some I'm picking a fight, but these concepts come from minds far greater than this Jersey boy's.

Some ground rules I follow in preparing episodes are centered on seeking out peer reviewed, evidence-based science. I'm not here to start or win arguments, or to cherrypick evidence to support my "position" on what may seem to be a controversial topic. In this episode, I lay out the reasoning underlying my ground rules.