Unprecedented October Blizzard? Plus California Fires/Expensive Power Outage

The Wheat Ridge, Colorado police department posted this photo
of traffic nightmares in Colorado Thursday.

As we continue to enjoy a fabulous October in Vermont, imagine being slapped in the face with this dire set of warnings this time of year:

"Heavy snow is expected to continue today. For this entire event, one to three feet of snow is expected. 40 to 60 mph winds will occur today into Saturday, which will result in whiteout conditions  and large, impassable drifts.

Several days of impossible travel. Disruptions to travel will last through at least the weekend. Localized power outages Tree and structural damage from heavy snow loads...."

Such is life currently in central North Dakota, where an unprecedented early season blizzard has taken hold. The warning above came from the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

That forecast office said they were pretty confident up to three feet of snow would fall, especially in areas around Devils Lake, in north-central North Dakota.  There's never been anything known like this in October there, even for a place that's known for its harsh winter weather.

In fact, there's a chance some North Dakota towns, and some right across the border in Canada, will have their largest snowstorm on record, for any time of year.

This will really screw farmers in this region, as not all crops were in by the time this hit, and livestock hadn't been sheltered for the winter year.  Plus, it's not as if farmers these days have it easy to begin with.

To make matters worse, the snow won't really melt very fast.  Temperatures in parts of North Dakota are forecast to stay under 40 degrees at least through next Thursday.

There have been an odd series of severe October snowstorms in the Dakotas lately. Just last year, right around this time in October, areas just west of Grand Forks, North Dakota had up to 17 inches of snow, causing lots of farm losses. (So they're going through this for the second year in a row.)

A devastating blizzard hit western South Dakota in early October, 2013, dumping more than four feet of snow in some areas.

Now, before some of you say this proves global warming doesn't exist, remember that it's warmer than normal in most parts of the world currently.

I'm also NOT saying climate change influenced this particular storm, or the other recent autumn snowstorms in the northern plains, but:  In general, with a warming climate, storms can work with more moisture than they used to, which means they can dump more precipitation than they used to.

If it's cold enough, that could mean more snow than might have fallen in the past. This is all conjecture in this instance, but worth noting.

CALIFORNIA FIRE/BLACKOUT

As expected, wildfires broke out in California amid, hot, dry windy conditions. One fire early this morning jumped over and closed two major freeways near Los Angeles.  Several homes were reported burning in Grenada Hills, as news about this fire was breaking early this morning.

Another fire yesterday blasted through a mobile home park and destroyed dozens of homes.

The precautionary power blackouts by PG&E in California this week could cost businesses and homeowner up to $1 billion, as the Weather Channel reports. PG&E shut off the electricity so that fires wouldn't start if high winds blew down power lines. Big fires, including the one that leveled Paradise, California and killed more than 80 people, were caused by falling and arcing power lines.