Continued strong signal from the EPS and GEFS for a large western trough developing later next week, thanks to a very impressive jet over the Pacific and a lack of a blocking ridge along the W Coast. Favorable teleconnections with troughing in the Gulf of Alaska (+EPO and -PNA) look to be in place to get this moving into the CONUS.
Wouldn't be surprised if 2015 has at least one last go of it in the severe department should this end up verifying, especially considering the location of the SE ridge axis out ahead and what may be quite a moist warm sector (especially by December's standards) by the time the upper level jet pushes eastward of the Rockies. Deep moisture trajectories on the Euro look pretty prototypical for what you would want to see in a cold season event, coming right through the Caribbean. Then it comes down to what character the trough ejection assumes, and whether it will be sheared out if the ridge amplifies too much ahead of it, or whether it amplifies too much and becomes too meridional.
This is of course barring any complications from the active southern stream, i.e. shortwaves disrupting the return flow. The more reliable Euro has not been showing this to the extent that the NA models have though, thus has more instability. Regardless, as usual this time of year, the biggest question is always moisture quality and from what I'm seeing, this system does have a reasonably good chance of achieving that. With a very potent jet like this moving onto the W Coast, that is definitely an eyebrow raiser.