Weekend Snow Storm?

It's Tuesday and you might've already heard about a chance for snow this weekend...and you should know there are some very high snow totals tossed around by some weather models.  At this point in time the term "tossed around" fits pretty well.  The storm that will be responsible for any snow this weekend is a VERY LONG WAY AWAY right now...in fact, it's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Here's a satellite image from this evening...

A Lot of Ground (& Water) to Cover
 

When these storms are out over the open ocean we don't collect very much weather data, in other words there aren't many surface obs and there's not much upper air data to go by either.  This means it's tough to say:

1.  Exactly where the storm will track
2.  How strong the storm will be when it arrives in the middle US
3.  How fast it will be moving
4.  If it will be strengthening/weakening when it does arrive

All of these factors (and more) will eventually determine whether the storm lays down a lot of wet snow around the Quad Cities, or now snow at all in the Quad Cities!  If you look through enough models you can find date to support either solution...in fact, this week 2 or our more typically reliable models are putting out very different forecasts for late this weekend.

GFS snow totals
 

The GFS shows very heavy snow in the Quad Cities late this weekend...while the bottom image (the Euro model) shows hardly any snow at all!  While there are some things yet to be determined, one thing you can trust is Anthony Peoples and I will be watching this storm very closely for the next several days, and we'll keep you posted on CBS4 News and cbs4qc.com!

Euro snow totals