We are about to go through another weather pattern change as the run of extreme and widespread warmth will take a backseat. It will not necessarily be cold during this change, but the record and near-record warmth is forecast to shift northwestward. That will open the door for some colder weather to eventually make its way east of the Rockies at the end of next week or the following week. A pair of systems moving through during the next several days will be the precursor to that change in the pattern and will bring some more wintry impacts to the middle of the country as well as some potential severe weather across the South and Southeast.

Many northern areas have had above-normal snowfall this season, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the current snowpack from satellite. Snow cover stretches from the Canadian Prairies through North Dakota, the Great Lakes and Northeast. But outside of pockets around the Great Lakes, the current snowfall coverage and depth is much lower than normal for this time of year. The last three weeks or so of above-normal temperatures, which have set records at times, can be blamed for the melting of much of this snow, leaving a lot of bare ground in areas that are used to having something around at the beginning of the year. It continues to be very warm for the next several days, but this warmth cannot last forever.

Changes are coming to the weather pattern that will allow some bigger storm systems in the short-term (next five days), clippers in the medium-term (next week), and some more big storms possible in the long-term (last 10 days of January), with an eventual turn toward below-normal temperatures for at least the northern tier of the country. Focusing on the short term, those bigger storms could have some significant impact.

A pair of storms will move from the Southern Plains up through the Great Lakes through the weekend that will bring a mix of rain and snow. If they had access to some of the arctic temperatures in northwestern Canada, these storms would be even stronger. But we should see some significant impacts anyway.

The first system is currently found in northwestern Mexico on the morning of Jan. 7. It will move into Texas tonight into early Jan. 8 and continue northeast into the Great Lakes for Thursday night into early Jan. 9. Very warm air currently in place will leave most of the precipitation along the track as rain, and thunderstorms that develop on the southern edge of the system will have some limited potential to bring severe wind gusts and hail. The areas most at risk would be found around the Ozarks, but could extend into southern Illinois down through Texas and Louisiana on Jan. 8.

Though extremely warm for January, temperatures may be just low enough to produce some light snow on the northern edge of the band of precipitation from Nebraska through Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan Thursday night into Friday morning. While amounts are likely to be less than an inch over Nebraska, some areas from northern Iowa into the upper peninsula of Michigan could see a few inches cover the ground by sunrise on Jan. 9. This will be the weaker of the two systems.

The second system will have access to some marginally colder air as it works through the West on Jan. 9. This storm will emerge into Texas on Friday and quickly push northeast into the eastern Great Lakes on Jan. 10. The difference in temperature will help to drive the system, deepen the low-pressure center, and increase the severity of the storm. Warmer weather ahead of the storm track will cause showers and some thunderstorms, including potential for heavy rain and another risk of severe winds and hail across the Mid-South for Jan. 9 and possibly the Mid-Atlantic for Jan. 10.

But the colder air will help to develop a band of snow on the northern edge that will be heavier and more widespread than its predecessor. Models are still working on the details, but a band of snow is likely to develop over the southwestern Plains on Friday and follow the low-pressure center northeast through Kansas and Missouri through the Great Lakes on Saturday, where snow will be enhanced by the warm waters, leading to increased snowfall amounts across Wisconsin and especially Michigan.

Some heavier snow may develop across northern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as well, partially due to some wrap-around and lake-effect snow going into Jan. 11. Amounts are still being determined, but areas of greater than 6 inches are looking likely in the five-state area around the western Oklahoma Panhandle as well as eastern Wisconsin and much of Michigan as of this writing. Small changes to the track and temperature could cause shifts to these effects.

The deepening low should also cause some blowing and drifting of the snow across the Great Lakes as wind gusts could exceed 40 miles per hour on Saturday night and Sunday.

Though temperatures will fall as the second storm passes by, this air is largely sourced from the Pacific Ocean, and not the Arctic. A significant drop will occur, but should be close to normal for much of the Plains and Midwest and slightly below normal across the Southern Plains through the Southeast.

Temperatures are forecast to pop right back up early next week, but next week's pattern will favor the development of clipper systems that move down from Canada through the Great Lakes, usually bringing through some instances of colder air. The degree to which of course is still uncertain. But eventually, cold air is forecast to build across Western Canada and push southward through the U.S. during the last 10 days of January or so.

To find more weather conditions and your local forecast for free from DTN, head over to https://www.dtnpf.com/….

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.