The weather across much of the country will remain rather quiet and low impact over the next week or so, mainly due to zonal flow setting up across the northern tier of the country. Zonal flow occurs when the jet stream is in a more stable state, lying “flat” across the United States. This allows for a strong west-to-east motion when it comes to weather events moving across the country.
A strong west-to-east motion allows for weather systems to move across the country fairly quickly. This also prevents large-scale, strong storms from crossing the country as the motion of the jet stream moves systems quickly across the country without stalling or gaining too much strength. Systems have trouble gaining much strength in this setup since they are moved through so fast, they simply don’t have the time to organize.
A zonal flow is the opposite of what’s called meridional flow, which is a stronger north-to-south motion. This is the pattern that is synonymous with larger-scale, more impactful storm systems. This is when the jet stream takes on much more of a wavy pattern, allowing for blocking of systems. In the winter, this pattern also allows for more extreme temperature contrasts, an important factor for (non-tropical) storms to strengthen. This becomes more important as we get later in the season.