White Christmas chances iffy for some with lots of melting this week
Ever since we had that big snowstorm right after Thanksgiving, we have been cold with continued chances for snow. That has resulted in over 15" of snow so far this season officially in Milwaukee which is more than double the seasonal average by this point of the season. It's also the 17th most snowy start to the season.
The last snow we had came in the middle of last week when we had a slushy inch in the Milwaukee metro but mostly rain and little snow in southern areas and 3-7" of snow in northern counties. That slushy melted some of Milwaukee's snow which has stayed steady with a snow depth of 3" for the last week with the cold air. Overall there is more snow in our northern counties that have 5" or 6" on the ground but areas near the IL border only have an inch or two.
That snowpack will make a difference on who sees a White Christmas this year. Lots of melting is expected this week with a few days in the 30s for highs. Right now we are putting our White Christmas chance in Milwaukee at about a 50% chance with lesser chances for a White Christmas towards the border at 40% and better chances in our northern counties at a 60% chance.
Highs will get above freezing around midday Tuesday then reach the upper 30s and may stay above freezing for 48 hours until Thursday afternoon with lows Tuesday night dropping around freezing then highs reaching the upper 30s on Wednesday. Thursday could be the warmest day of the week around 40 but will see some decent cloud cover with rain. Friday looks chilly again but temps might rebound with more melting on Saturday.
Rain totals on Thursday have trended a little less but any steady moderate to heavy rain would cause even more melting. A touch of mix or slushy snow may be possible by Thursday evening into Friday morning as cold air returns. Right now any snow accumulation looks very light.
We have nine days until Christmas and overall temps look to stay near average for the week of the festive holiday. There are currently no big snow storms in the forecast and more melting may be possible right around the holiday. Download the CBS 58 Weather app to see the 10-day forecast which includes Christmas!