Showing posts with label Winter 2012-2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter 2012-2013. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Major Storm System Brings Winter and Spring Weather Hazards...

As promised, an unusually strong and winter-like storm system is bringing measurable snow to parts of the Plains on this first day of May!


As you can see by the latest satellite/radar mosaic above, snow is falling, moderately to heavily at times, from northeast Colorado into Nebraska and southwest Minnesota at this time.

Snow will increase across the region today and tonight while spreading Northeast into the Twin Cities area as well.

The potential exists for 2 inches or more of snow to fall from southeast Nebraska into southcentral and southeast Minnesota through tonight:


...with up to 6 inches or more possible in some localized areas:


Today will only be the fourth time since 1895 that measurable snow will have fallen in the Grand Island and Hastings, NE areas during the month of May:


...and similar records will be broken at many other locations today and tonight.

Meanwhile, on the warm side of the storm, strong to severe thunderstorms are likely to form in the southern and central Plains later this afternoon into this evening and at least early tonight:


The highest potential for severe weather, mainly in the form of large hail, will be within the green shaded area on the above image.  Damaging thunderstorm wind gusts are also possible in this region, mainly late this afternoon through sunset this evening.

One or more clusters of strong to severe storms may also organize in northwest and west-central Texas this evening and move Southeast toward the I-35 corridor from Austin to San Antonio around Midnight or shortly after late this evening and early tonight.

Make sure that you have a way to receive weather warnings if you live in these areas, including after you go to bed tonight.

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Heavy Snow Across St. Louis / Surrounding Areas...

It's snowing to beat the band on this late March day across portions of the Midwest.  Snow continues to fall heavily in the St. Louis Metro area this hour:


The numbers inside of the blue and purple squares indicate how much snow is on the ground at a given location as of the last 1-2 hours.  Note the 6-8 inch amounts across the Kansas City area, and 2-4 inches so far in St. Louis, but it's still snowing heavily there at this time.  Wichita ended up with 3-6 inches in most cases.

There is also cloud to ground lightning taking place across western and northern portions of the St. Louis metro area along with the snow at this time, as indicated by the plus signs within the yellow circled areas on the image below:


This is indicative of heavy snowfall with rates of 1-2 inches per hour likely.

Snowfall will spread East into the Ohio Valley through tonight and Monday, where Winter Storm Warnings (shown in pink on the map below ) are in effect:


Six inches or more of snowfall is likely across a broad swath from Missouri into the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia through tonight:


For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming April 1, 2013:  "The Tornado Chronicles" full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook
• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Winter Storm Organizing in the Midwest; Strong to Locally Severe Storms Possible Southeast Today...


After depositing 6-8 inches of snow in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area overnight, a strong winter storm is still organizing as it moves toward the Southeast today.

Snow has really started to pick up in the Chicago area during the last couple of hours, and a Winter Storm Warning is in effect across much of the region today and into tonight, as shown in pink on the image below:



Snow is likely to exceed 6 inches in many areas, especially within the lighter blue, pink and red shaded areas on the image below through tonight:


As you can see, the heaviest snow today and tonight will include the Chicago area, which is likely to receive its heaviest snowfall so far this winter.

The threat of heavy snow will shift East tomorrow and tomorrow night, reaching the mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S., with greater than 6 inches in the indicated areas (same color scale as the image above):



On the warm side of the storm, strong to locally severe storms are possible in the Southeast U.S. today.  There have already been some reports of 0.5 inch to 0.75 inch hail this morning in northeast Mississippi and northern Alabama:


Storms may become a bit stronger during the heat of the afternoon today, with damaging wind gusts, hail to near severe limits and even an isolated tornado possible over northeast or east-central Alabama and portions of Georgia:


For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  "The Tornado Chronicles" full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook
• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Severe Thunderstorm Warning with Heavy Snow in Montana!


A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued within the last hour for Big Horn County in Montana.

If you read the text of a recent warning update (as shown in the picture above), you'll note that in addition to the 65 mph wind gusts being produced by the "bow echo" of the severe storm, very heavy snow is falling at the same time, causing near zero visibility!

Now that's what I call thundersnow!

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  "The Tornado Chronicles" full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook
• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!






Latest Winter Storm to End Snow Drought in D.C.?

A major winter storm system will track from the northcentral Plains (today) through the Midwest and Ohio Valley (Monday and Tuesday) and reach the northeast and mid-Atlantic region by Wednesday of this week.

While some of the exact details have yet to be worked out (particularly for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions), its safe to say that cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago and the DC/Baltimore area that have not seen a lot of snow this winter are definitely in for accumulating snows with this system...

Here is the latest snowfall forecast from the U.S. GFS model valid now through Tuesday evening, showing heavy accumulation for both Minneapolis and Chicago:


...and then through Wednesday evening, with significant snow indicated for the Baltimore/Washington DC areas:


Winter Storm Warnings are in effect ahead of this system in the northcentral U.S. and Midwest, with more to come further to the East tomorrow:


For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  "The Tornado Chronicles" full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook
• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!




Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Recent Heavy Snow Put a Dent in the Central Plains Drought...

Although its still a long way from over, a significant reduction in drought severity has taken place recently as a result of heavy snow across portions of the central and southern Plains states - particularly across Oklahoma and central & eastern Kansas.

As an example, take a look at this dramatic comparison picture from long time blog reader Dave Schweitzer's (you can follow him at @tornado_dave on twitter) pond near Calumet, OK:


Indeed, much needed moisture has fallen over 100% of the Sooner State for the last 30 days, with areas in red receiving over 5 inches of liquid equivalent precipitation: 


The same is true, though to a lesser magnitude, for a good part of the central Plains.  Note the pronounced dry exception, though, over a large part of the Midwest:


...and it remains very dry over a significant part of Texas:


It remains to be seen just how the major "storm track" (i.e., jet stream pattern) will evolve as we head into the spring.  We certainly hope that the recent improvement is a sign of a longer term trend and over a much larger area.  Stay tuned, as we should begin to see hints of the longer term trends during the month of March!

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  The Tornado Chronicles full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook
• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

NW Oklahoma / NE Texas Panhandle Big "Winners" With Latest Snowfall...


The above image shows the change in snow depth from 7am CST yesterday to 7am CST today.  The dark purple shading over extreme NW Oklahoma and the northeast Texas panhandle shows where 20+ inches of new snow fell.

Keep in mind, it was still snowing at 7 o'clock this morning on the northeast Kansas, Missouri and Iowa sides of the image, so the values in those areas aren't reflective of the total new snow yet...

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  The Tornado Chronicles full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado outlooks/threat index
• Photos, videos & more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!





Powerhouse Storm Continues East/Northeast...


The powerful storm system that dumped heavy snow on Oklahoma and Kansas yesterday and last night continues East and Northeast today.  It is still snowing heavily in Kansas city and much of northern and western Missouri at this time, as well as over the southeast half of Iowa and northwestern Illinois.

Heavy, wet snow is causing major problems across the affected areas in Missouri, with several roof collapses and major power outages reported.  Check out this image posted on twitter by @thedraketaker, which shows the heavy, wet snow in Sedalia, MO a short while ago - and it is still falling heavily at this time:


A similar scene is visible in the Kansas City area, this one also via twitter by @Ginger_Zee:


Winter Storm Warnings (pink) and Winter Weather Advisories (purple) are in effect in association with this system today, with additional heavy snowfall likely, especially in the Winter Storm Warning areas:


The additional snow in Wichita yesterday put the city at a total of 21 inches for the month of February, which is a new "all time" record snowfall for any month there.

Meanwhile, on the southeast extremity of the storm, severe weather is possible today from Florida into the far eastern Carolinas.  A Tornado Watch is currently in effect for much of the central and northern Florida peninsula until 3pm EST.



For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:
 

Coming March 2013:  The Tornado Chronicles full website!
• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)
• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom
• Tornado safety, preparedness and education
• Daily tornado outlooks/threat index
• Photos, videos & more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!