According to the Rutgers University Snow Laboratory the North America rank for December 2021 snow cover was 26 of the last 56 years whereas 1 is most snowy and 56 is least snowy. Alaska had a second consecutive month of record snow in December.

Another moderate and possibly heavy snowfall event for THU/FRI this week in the Mid-Atlantic to New England States. Early next week a blast of bitter cold is looking more likely.

A look at the morning CIC Energy Report identifies December 2021 as the second warmest this century in the U.S. based on gas population weight HDD which was 688 trailing only 640 HDD in 2015.

December 2021 upper air 500 MB height anomalies identify the prevailing weather pattern. A West Coast upper trough propels a stormy regime. In the East both the polar and subtropical jet streams arc into a ridge position bringing historic warmth. Note the upper air pattern runs parallel to the regional SSTA regimes in the northeast Pacific and western North Atlantic.