Winter '11 / '12 - Late December Snow

Another storm manages to thread the needle and slip by the forecast stations.  This winter is only the second season where NEWxSFC did not have a contest-worthy storm in December.  Every winter... with the notable exception of '06 / '07...had contest storms during January...so the odds are favorable for this season.

Small glimmers of hope have been showing up recently in the extended range...especially the ECMWF...as the progs depict a highly amplified ridge-West / trof-East flow regime developing across the CONUS.

Whatever evolves eventually from the weak warming in the stratosphere would likely take several weeks to affect the lower troposphere.