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| Forecast weather map for Sunday. A big winter storm will spread tricky weather through much of the nation. You can see the storm's size envelops much of the nationl |
It's back to the usual winter slog of wind, snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, thunder and other hazards that can drive one crazy with either dread or delight, depending upon your perspective.
Things were so nice on Christmas Day that there were at least a couple dozen record highs in some parts of the Midwest, and Tennessee and Ohio valleys.
Now, however, attention turns to the next storm, which will actually affect most of the nation. It's going to be one of those big, windy lumbering affairs that starts off in California and heads northeast toward the Great Lakes.
This type of storm and storm track is the kind that gives everybody some sort of inclement weather.
Things started in the Southwest Christmas and Christmas night with heavy rain and local flooding in southern California. There was even a brief tornado warning around Santa Barbara, California, though I'm not aware of anything touching down.
As is the case with most storms like this, this system will spend today and most of Friday getting its act together over the Southwest and southern Rockies, then it will plow northeastward.
By later Friday night, snow and mixed precipitation will blossom northward through the Plains states. There's already a winter storm watch out for parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, and I'm sure that watch and other advisories will soon expand into neighboring states like the Dakotas, parts of Iowa and Minnesota.
Where I'm staying in Yankton, South Dakota for the holidays, not too far from the border with Iowa, there's a good chance this storm will dump quite a bit of freezing rain. In fact, there will be a band of ice with this thing probably all the way from Nebraska, through parts of the Great Lakes and eventually into northern New England on Monday.
(More on Vermont impacts further down).
Early indications are that heavy snow and near blizzard conditions could develop in the colder air from the western half of Nebraska, into central and western South Dakota, the eastern half of North Dakota and a good chunk of Minnesota.
The storm will be strong, so whatever falls from the sky will produce a lot of wind through the Plains and Great Lakes.
Severe thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes occur with this type of storm in the warm air well south and east of the storm center.
That looks like that might be the case with this storm in the lower Mississippi Valley, but early indications are this won't be an incredibly widespread severe outbreak.
VERMONT IMPACTS
The Green Mountain State is in for two bouts of mixed precipitation.
The first one is coming through during the first half of Friday. A weak storm system will swing a warm front our way. There won't be much freezing rain Friday morning, but a little bit goes a long way. Expect slippery roads in most of Vermont for the morning commute, which is why there's a winter weather advisory up for the early monring hours.
The storm from the Plains will affect us in New England on Monday. It's still hard to say how much of what will come out of the sky. The storm's warm front will try to bring some mild air in, but cool high pressure from Quebec will insist on at least trying to keep us below freezing.
This sounds like a recipe for mixed precipitation and more ice late Sunday and Monday, so we'll have to keep an eye on it. More details to follow.
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