After a warm, wet, and wild Wednesday across the Capital Region, the cold air is now ushering into the area and will stick around for quite some time, the next two to three weeks to be exact, which takes us right into Christmas.

Temperatures will be slightly below normal to end our workweek and begin the weekend, with afternoon high’s struggling to get into the upper 30’s.

But with such a cold pattern, it has to snow, right? Well, not so fast. If you are talking about lake effect snow, then yes, they certainly will be getting their fair share in western New York as the cold flow of air from the west and northwest will continue to flow over the warmer lake waters. Snow will begin to pile up in the favored lake effect belts, but what about the Capital Region?

Well, it depends on that jet stream. If it remains to our south, then the storm systems will also pass to our south, keeping the white stuff out of our area. And with a blocking pattern over the North Atlantic Ocean, it doesn’t seem like there will be much progress with the weather pattern.

So as we head into early December, we will be watching that jet stream and the storm track of any low pressure that develops in the south. All it takes is that jet stream to line up along the coast, and we will be looking at a major snowstorm, also known as a Nor’easter.