John,

Is there any connection with a rainy spell coming on just before a cold snap? It seems like it warms up and dumps rain on us for a few days and with the blink of an eye, it's below 32º and dry as a bone. There are a few flurries today, but for the last 3 days it's been raining and not cold enough to produce snow.

There can be. Basically an area of low pressure moving through the Midwest draws warm and more moist air up ahead of it and depending on your proximity to the track of the low, you can be in the warm sector and thus see rains. Then as the low passes, cold air dumps in behind it and can change the precip over to snow.

So that is why you can sometimes get rains ahead of a cold snap. The cold air typically comes from northern Canada or the arctic and contains much lower amounts of humidity, so that is why things can turn dry with the colder air.

-John

Just really chaps my kiester when it rains for 3 or 4 days and as soon as it's cold enough for snow, then everything dries up. Seems to happen a lot around here.

Thanks for the answer, John. Have a great day!

Dave