Strong, Textbook Middle Of The Nation Storm Takes Shape

Already lots of weather alerts on the National Weather
Service map. That broad area of red, pink and blue
are blizzard and winter storm warnings, and various
other winter watches and advisories. Pink and orange
around Texas are wind and fire alerts. 

I hesitate to use the word "textbook" and "typical" to describe the storm taking shape now in the middle of the country, given how nasty and locally extreme the weather is going to get in some places.  

Maybe "classic" is the term for this, because of the types and locations of the rough weather this storm is about to cause.

Also, us weather geeks are going to love the satellite and other images of this storm as it develops. I bet this will be a great storm to use as perfect example in future meteorology classes.

To the north of the storm's expected path, from eastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas, much of Nebraska, southern and eastern South Dakota, northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota, blizzard warnings are up. 

Most of this area can expect around a foot of snow, with strong north to northeast winds. Travel is NOT recommended in this broad area today and tomorrow.

To the south of the storm - again this is a classic spot for this type of storm - severe weather is likely in parts of northeast Texas, Arkansas and northwest Louisiana. It looks like forecasters don't think this will be the most extensive, most severe outbreak ever.

But there is a definitely a risk in this area of strong, damaging winds and maybe a tornado or two. The fun part about this is the same area under the warm, humid storm risk zone just had record cold and some snow a few days ago. Definitely some weather whiplash going on there.

Speaking of severe weather, here's a positive factoid for once after a year of weather disasters. The nation has gone 249 consecutive days without anybody dying in a tornado. That's the longest stretch of no tornado fatalities on record. Let's hope that if any tornadoes touch down today, they don't hurt anybody.

To the southwest of the storm system - again this is typical with this type of storm - strong, dry winds will develop today in the western half of Texas, eastern New Mexico and parts of Oklahoma.

It hasn't rained or snowed much at all in this area so it's really dry. There's a critical risk of rangeland wildfires today in the area I've outlined. I'm glad most of this area is relatively sparsely populated, because I think this wildfire risk is the most dangerous of all the hazards being created by this storm  - including the blizzard and the severe weather I've already outlined.

This storm will inevitably affect us here in Vermont. Expect mixed precipitation Monday night, so the roads will get nasty overnight, especially in eastern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and the St. Lawrence Valley of New York.

Precipitation will change over to rain Tuesday. Forecasters are still watching the numerous ice jams in the region. The rain and thawing could shift these ice jams, or add water to the rivers to make flooding behind the ice jams worse. It's sometbing to pay attention to, that's for sure.