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| A truck tipped over by a tornado in Florida this week. More severe weather is likely across the South early next week. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett, Florida Sun-Sentinel |
Now we have another big nasty storm to talk about. It'll come just a little more than a week after the epic Blizzard of 2016 on the East Coast.
This next storm will be quite different from that blizzard, but it's sure to cause plenty of trouble.
Tornadoes and severe weather look to be the biggest threat with this one.
As is always the case when you're talking about a storm that's still several days away, the details are murky and subject to change.
But we have the broad outlines, and it ain't pretty.
THE SET-UP
Flood alerts are already up along the northern California and southern Oregon coasts, and winter storm warnings are up in the Sierra Nevada mountains with this thing.
The storm will begin to really get going in the southern Rockies Sunday and Mondat, then move through the Plains and then into the Great Lakes during the first half of next week. It's going to turn into a strong storm, with lots of wind and a big variety of hazards all the way from California to New England.
Following are some of the bigget threats from this thing
TORNADOES/SEVERE STORMS
It's a little unusual for NOAA's Storm Prediction Center to begin issuing advisories for severe weather four or five days down the road. At least during the winter, when the atmosphere is often at its least predictable.
But the SPC is saying that severe weather, including tornadoes is a pretty good bet along the Gulf Coast, lower Mississippi Valley, and southern Ohio Valley starting late Monday and continuing through Tuesday.
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| Forecast map for next Tuesday shows a strong storm over the middle of the nation, which would cause a wide variety of weather hazards. |
They're actually more confident than usual about the threat of severe storms and tornadoes in the South.
The set up seems to indicate discreet supercells with possible tornadoes ahead of the storm's strong cold front, and a nasty, very gusty, damaging squall line just ahead of the cold front.
This at least has the potential to be another really ugly outbreak of dangerosu weather, so stay tned in that part of the country.
SNOW/BLIZZARD
Somewhere in the middle of the country, this powerful storm will likely set off quite a snowstorm with possible blizzard conditions.
The best bet now for this snowstorm would stretch from Colorado through the central Plains and on up toward Minnesota.
LOTS OF WIND:
Even places that don't get tornadoes, or severe thunderstorms, or a blizzard out of this storm, it's going to get pretty damned windy across much of the nation as the storm plunders on through. I expect we'll see high wind warnings and wind advisories for huge areas of the nation, especially in the Midwest, the Great Lakes region and in a good chunk of the Northeast
FLOODING:
There is a risk of flooding on the east side of the storm, as it will probably end up dropping at least one to three inches of rain, possibly locally more.
The biggest threat of flooding will probably be in the central Appalachians, as the storm will bring a surge of warm air along with the rain to rapidly melt the snow that accumulated in that blizzard a week ago.
TEMPERATURE GYRATIONS
The New England ski areas can't seem to catch a break this winter. There's been lots of thaws in that neck of the woods, and the biggest snowstorms seem to keep missing.
Since this powerful storm will travel west of New England, expect a surge of very warm air, possibly threatening record highs, by the middle of next week. The storm will also bring at least moderate rains, so this isn't great news for skiers and riders who want to enjoy the Presidents Day weekends in mid-February.
It will turn much colder after the storm goes by, so resorts will make snow. And once the cold air is established, there will be frequent chances of at least light snow, possibly even more than that, as we head into mid-February.
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