Hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is now behind us and Christmas is less than 4 weeks away! So let's take a look at what's happening over the next 4 weeks.

Next week (week 1), we're going back and  forth between mild and cold with the coldest days being Wednesday through Friday. Another (brief) warmup comes next weekend but will be ending Sunday night or Monday.

For week 2, Monday could start us off mild but another cold shot will be waiting to move in thereafter. This one should be a little longer and stronger. Much of week 2 looks cold.

After that things get a little fuzzy. There's a TON of cold air waiting in the wings in western Canada. Should the pattern unfold like I think it will, a large piece of that cold air will get tapped and head southward into the lower 48. Most computer models agree on that. However, there a small minority that suggest the core of that cold air will settle into the central U.S. and we'll only receive a glancing blow. Either way, it will be chilly. It's just tough to say how cold at this point. But the potential is there for a significant blast of cold air.

For week 4, we'll either be on the back side of week 3's cold blast or just staying chilly with small pieces of cold air heading eastward into PA.

Overall, more days will be cold than mild after next Wednesday. Granted there will be a few small warmups in between the cold shots, but look for the cold shots to get longer and stronger as the month wears on.

And as far as a white Christmas - the odds are better this year than last. The snowpack to our north in Canada is considerably larger than last year and that will serve to keep things chilly...acting like a refrigerator more or less. So any snow that falls after December 15th will likely stick around through the 25th. The big question is-will any fall during that time or will it be dry? That's something that can't be answered for another 10 days or so.

Stay tuned!