Storminess Update: Midwest Storms, Vermont Whiplash

The more colorful the United States map on the home page of the
National Weather Service is, the more active the weather. The
map was pretty colorful early this mornin. 

As expected, it's going to be a pretty active day in the United States as a pretty good sized storm makes its way through the middle of the nation.

There's a mix of severe weather, wind, snow and flooding out there, which has been forecast for days and is coming to fruition.

Texas was under the gun yesterday with a few areas of flooding and severe weather.

There were reports of tornadoes near Abilene, Texas last night, but damage wasn't all that bad and there were no reports of serious injuries.

Today, the main risk of severe storms and possible tornadoes will shift to much of the Midwest today, with the most concentrated risks of high winds and a few tornadoes expected in two areas:. One hot spot will be a zone in and immediately surrounding southern Illinois. That same area is also under a threat of some flooding today.

Iowa is another hot spot for the risk of severe storms, with maybe a tornado or two.  A blizzard is still expected to develop in a fairly broad area centered around the spot Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska meet.

VERMONT WEATHER

We're definitely beginning a spell of whiplash weather that'll last until Saturday.  Wait a minute and it will change, that's for sure.

There was a little snow and rain coming down in Vermont this morning mostly soutb of Route 2.  That should taper off later leaving us with a quiet and cloudy day.

Forecasters are still expecting a shot of rain late tonight and early Friday, followed by a relatively windy and warm day.  If the air mixes well, a lot of us could still make it into the 60s for highs.

A band of showers and possible rumbles should come through in the afternoon.  If some storms can grab some strong winds blowing overhead and bring those winds to the surface, an isolated spot or two in Vermont could get some gusty winds from the storms.

The latest NOAA Storm Prediction Center outlook has New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and western New England in a zone for a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms Friday. This area includes the part of Vermont that is roughly south and west of Interstate 89.

A marginal risk zone is defined as one in which isolated severe storms might develop, but they will tend to not last very long.

That sharp cold front is still definitely coming through Friday night, plunging us back into winter.  High temperatures will only make it to the low 30s Saturday, despite a fair amount of sun.  Gusty northwest winds will make it feel even colder.

Sunday will also be pretty sunny, and the winds will be lighter. But it will still be cold with highs only in the 30s.

Some computer models hint at a few inches of snow for us on Tuesday but other forecasting models say no dice on that one. So stay tuned. We'll have to wait and see on that.