Hello and happy Tuesday everyone – hope all is well. Well, if you haven’t heard, we’ve got another major winter storm expected to smear it’s face across the Upper Midwest. A smattering of rain, sleet, snow and freezing rain is expected across the Plains, Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region. Here’s a look at the Watches and Warnings map:
Travel Plans and What to Expect:
WEDNESDAY Thru 1PM
THURSDAY THRU 1PM – Christmas Eve
FRIDAY THRU 1PM – Christmas Day
How Much Snow?
This is neat, this is a NOAA product that shows the probability of 8″ or more of snow, which is very high for Day 3 – 6am Thursday thru 6am Friday – the red circle indicates a 70% chance. Here’s a little something from the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities. *FOR WEATHER GEEKS* – If this doesn’t get you excited – I don’t know what will:
AS THE STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES... SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE FURTHER
REFINED... BUT TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL LIKELY EXCEED A FOOT OVER
PARTS MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN... WITH AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 20
INCHES POSSIBLE.
You Can Track Santa on His Journey:
Rudolph will definitely be earning his keep this year flying through the mess expected in the Upper Midwest Christmas Eve Night and did you know that you can track Santa on his Journey? Norad Santa Tracker has all you need for the big day, check it out! The kids will love it – I promise: Track him here: http://www.noradsanta.org/
Hang in there, see you real soon!
Meteorologist Todd Nelson – WeatherNation LLC
Hello and happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. Wow – what a storm in the Northeast, eh? An historic Nor’Easter blanketed/crippled sections of North Carolina to New England with 1′ to 2′ snow amounts. Take a look at this satellite image of the snow from space:
First Day of Winter
At 12:47pm today, the suns rays were directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees latitude south, marking the beginning of astronomical winter for us in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer for those in the Southern Hemisphere.
Awaiting the Next Big Storm – Snowmagedon:
Computer models are creating “Snowmagendon” for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day over the Upper Midwest with some spots seeing a foot or more of snow. Of course, it’s too early to talk totals and specific locations, but this one bares watching, especially if you’ll be traveling
That’s it for now – have a safe holiday if you’ll be travel bound soon.
Meteorologist Todd Nelson – WeatherNation LLC
‘Super Saturday’ in the Northeast was a complete disaster with many areas picking up record snowfall such as Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Airport delays left and right made it difficult for travelers and many are still stranded in airports because of the delays in the Northeast so if you have flights going into NYC or even Arlington, VA make sure to call ahead of time. With all this snowfall, shoppers didn’t flock to the malls as expected (normally the Saturday before Christmas is one of the busiest shopping days in the nation) and they preferred to stay home drinking some hot chocolate and playing in the snow. The latest snowfall reports for the big cities: Philadelphia-23.2″ (2nd snowiest day on Record), Reagan National Airport-16.4″ (Snowiest December on record), Upton, NY-26.3″ (biggest snowstorm on record), Taunton, MA-11.9″, West Warwick, RI-13.5″. The good news is that the potent area of low pressure that brought this winter storm is moving out into the open waters and we will continue to see the snow taper off the Cape Cod area by Sunday night.
Here are some pictures from our followers in the state of Virginia
Taken by Mike DeMesquita
Taken by Melissa Lopez in Arlington, VA
Taken by Melissa Lopez
Christmas is right around the corner, and many will be traveling in the next couple of days, but another very strong area of low pressure is expected to affect the Midwest and then eventually the Northeast creating travel headaches from the Rockies all the way east into Florida. So make sure you do stay up to date with all the weather information because this next storm system could bring not only snow to the Midwest but also freezing rain and sleet from Kentucky into West Virginia on Christmas Eve. Below is a map of what we are expecting for Wednesday, December 23 when many of us start our voyage to visit family.
Monday should be a much quieter day across the Nation, just make sure to drive safe and prepare yourself for the next big storm!
Ciao amigos.
Denise Isaac
WeatherNation LLC – Meteorologist
Welcome to the busiest weekend of the year! Everyone is scurrying about trying to get their holiday shopping done this weekend or trying to get back home for the holidays… could the Northeast and Mid Atlantic ask for worse weather? I think not. Strong winds and heavy snow aren’t making traveling all that easy–in fact, it’s been impossible for many areas. There were reports of people leaving their cars on the beltway in D.C. Cars were also stranded on I-81 in Virginia. This is an incredible storm that is impacting the East and easterners aren’t unfamiliar with this type of storm (if they’ve been there a while). It’s known as a “Nor’easter.” While the name seems rather appropriate, since it impacts the northeast, it really gets its name because of the gusty northeast winds that impact the east. Nor’easters are areas of low pressure that intensify just off the east coast. They’re notorious for cranking up winds to to 50 mph or more (sometimes hurricane force!) and dumping a TON of snow and rain. Coastal flooding is usually a problem along with rough seas in the Atlantic. They can occur at any time of the year, but are more common during the winter time and they can be devastating.
This nor'easter was responsible for the North American blizzard of 2006.
Why are they SO intense? First of all, they thrive on being wedged in between two airmasses. Many times it is an interaction between a polar (cold) air mass and a warm/moist air mass. This is when you have the most ideal conditions for heavy, wet snow. All that moisture gets pumped into an air mass that is cold enough to support snow… and heavy snow at that. It’s also interesting to note that they can easily look like hurricanes (as seen in the photo) and they can produce just as much damage.
So with that in mind, let’s talk about the current situation. This storm began in the Gulf of Mexico and brought torrential rain to the southeast and even severe weather in Florida. It tracked just along the Mid-Atlantic where it encountered the polar air mass–this is when heavy rain quickly switched over to heavy snow. Robbinsville, North Carolina received an impressive 24″ of snow! Snow was falling at a rate of 1″ to 2″ per hour, which is not common in the Mid Atlantic. That snow spread into the Northeast today and there is A LOT of it. Our nation’s capital could potentially end up with 20″ of snow! This is something that has only happened twice since the late 1800s. This probably is the biggest snowstorm D.C. has seen since 1982. Don’t forget that wind gusts have been in excess of 40 mph for many of these areas. Visibilities are minimal.
6 PM Radar: Heavy, wet snow
We’re going to be feeling this storm for the next 24 hours still with the weather improving by tomorrow evening for much of the Northeast. Nevertheless, it will be interesting see how much snow this storm will end up cranking out. I think it’s safe to say that the timing of this storm is terrible! Guess folks will be playing catch-up for the start of next week… Oy.
Susie Martin
WeatherNation Meteorologist
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a white Christmas for someone along the East Coast. Significant snowfall could occur from North Carolina to southern New England as a classic Nor’easter hugs the coast through the weekend. This storm has already produced flooding rains and tornadoes in south Florida today. Water was reported to be knee deep in parts of Miami and local rivers crested to historic levels. The heavy rain spread into the rest of the Southeast and with an already saturated ground, an additional 1-2″ of rain could produce flooding in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
The center of low pressure associated with this storm was deepening rapidly this afternoon as it sat between Pensacola and Panama City, Florida. It appears that the storm even has a center eye! A strong southwest wind ahead of the low pumped lots of moisture into Florida spawning the severe weather. There was a report that 12″ of rain fell in the Hallandale Beach area.
It is estimated that close to 50 million people will be affected by this storm. Heavy snow is anticipated in western Virginia and North Carolina. Washington D.C also stands a chance of receiving a cool 12″ of snow! That would be a 1 in every 10 year event! Washington, D.C has only had 13 storms with 12″ or more since 1870. Snow will also pile up for Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore and eventually Boston. The storm will be weaker by the time it reaches southern New England.
Weekend Outlook
Saturday:
On Sunday a clipper moves through the Midwest bringing with it a quick shot of snow and a reinforcement of colder air.
Kristin Clark
WeatherNation Meteorologist
