Travel Weather From Now Through Christmas Eve

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Via Rob McClure and Twitter, these are the conditions at Berthoud Pass, Colorado. It is 11° and visibility is occasionally zero.

These are the current NWS watches and warnings as of 2:43pm CST.
Orange = blizzard warning. Bright blue = avalanche warning. Browns = high wind watches/warnings. Pink = winter storm warnings. Blues = winter weather advisories (a lesser condition than a winter storm warning). More may be issued in northern Plains and/or Upper Midwest later this afternoon. Please check AccuWeather for specific local forecasts!

December 23rd

 As of 9am tomorrow morning (23rd) some light to moderate new snow will fall from the northern Plains into Wisconsin.

And, here is the forecast snow accumulation for 9pm tomorrow evening. There is quite a bit of light snow accumulation, especially from east of I-29 in northern Iowa to near Green Bay, WI.

There is also a tornado and severe thunderstorm risk (primarily from damaging thunderstorm winds) in the yellow area tomorrow and tomorrow night. Thunderstorms may get close enough to the airline hub in Atlanta to cause some delays.


Christmas Eve

Here is the forecast weather map for 1pm EST on the 24th. Where the solid black lines (isobars, lines of equal barometric pressure) are close together it will be windy with gusts above 30 mph.
It will be very windy at ground level around the low and there will be quite a bit of turbulence aloft, as well. You may want to consider not eating a big meal shortly before takeoff. The turbulence will be increased near or northeast of any thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms will also cause localized delays.

With regard to snow accumulation, the low is going to bring enough cold air south to have to worry about heavy snow in a narrow band.

This is the forecast snow accumulation at 6am CST on Christmas Eve.

Things change quite a bit by 10pm.
A band of 2-6 inches falls from southeast Missouri to southern Lake Michigan and 2 to 10 inches in Lower Michigan. And, with the forecast gusty winds, there will be drifting snow.

Of course, this band may have to be adjusted a bit to the east or west. So, if you are planning to travel in this area Wednesday, earlier is better and moving your trip up a day would be best still.

I will update this forecast tomorrow morning.

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