Current US Snow Cover - Pretty Extensive

AMAZING Storm Warnings; Tornado to Flood To Winter Storm

Mature Nature Will Grant White Christmas Wishes For Many

A very complex and far-reaching winter storm will take shape today across the center of the nation. It will produce widespread winter weather, and may grant wishes of a white Christmas to millions.

Snow is a guarantee across the northern and central plains states this Christmas, and it will be measured in feet across some locations such as Minnesota.

Snow is becoming more and more of a possibility in places like Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Springfield, MO.

There may even be some flakes as far south as central Arkansas and Memphis by Christmas Day.

Before the flakes potentially fly in the lower Mississippi River valley, we'll first have to contend with the potential for a few severe storms today. Areas in and around the Arklatex (Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas) will be under the gun for some storms. Even extreme southern Missouri.

Very heavy rain is also expected across Arkansas and portions of the mid-south.

Christmas Travel Woes Ahead

Well it was an absolutely amazing storm over the weekend - my friends on Long Island recorded 2 feet of snow. Numerous records were set for either snowiest day, snowiest storm, or snowiest December across the mid-Atlantic and northeast.

A new storm is moving onshore today and it will have a pretty significant impact on travel plans Wednesday through Friday across the center of the nation.

Snow will fly on the northside of the system and severe storms will rumble on the southside across Arkansas and Louisiana.

In the middle, we may see an ice storm in the middle.

Stay tuned!

Epic Eastern Winter Storm

Just look at this area of low pressure. 29.22 mb of pressure on the outer banks of North Carolina at Kill Devil Hills. That is pretty deep in weather man terms. Those lines around the low are called isobars, or lines of equal pressure. The closer the lines, the stronger the low. Close lines of equal pressure, also referred to as tightly packed isobars, translates into windy conditions. No wonder there are blizzard warnings out in and around the Baltimore/Washington DC vicinity.

When this weekend is over, I think there will be numerous new snowfall records across the mid-Atlantic and coastal New England areas. Folks along the mountains of western Virginia, North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and West Virginia have already seen between 14 and 20 inches of snow.

I saw a report that said the record 2-day snow event for Washington D.C. is 12 inches dating back to the 1930s. For Baltimore it is 14 inches dating back to the 1960s. Both records could fall this weekend.

Kinda Quiet Now, Maybe Not This Weekend

The weather maps are fairly quiet right now. No huge storms really.

There are some occasional lake effect snows around the Great Lakes, some sub-zero temperatures from time to time along the Canadian border, and some pockets of rain in the west and south with occasional mountain snow in the Rockies, Sierras and Cascades.

This is all to be expected this time of the year.

There could be a potential eastern snowstorm as we head into the weekend. Forecasters are watching the areas from the mountain of Tennessee and North Carolina across the mid-Atlantic and into New England.

Winter storm watches have already been posted for upstate South Carolina, extreme eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia and much of western and central North Carolina, including Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham.

If wintry precipitation develops across this area, we are talking early Friday and lasting into the day on Saturday - so keep abreast of the latest if you either live in that region or have holiday travel plans there.

Chilly Upper Midwest

Much if not most of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska are below zero this morning as a large bubble of arctic air sits across the region.

Anticipate one more day of the bitter cold before warmer air moves in to end the week.

On Monday, some isolated severe storms struck the central Gulf Coast region with a few tornadoes even reported around southeast Alabama.

This morning some more showers and thunderstorms are rumbling across Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

And an article recently published by NOAA warns of the dangers posed by both nighttime tornadoes and winter tornadoes.

Click here to read more.

Current US Snowcover

Wow look how much of the country has snow on the ground today!

Blizzards, High Waves, Below Zero Temps Oh My!

What a fun day to recap the national weather scene -- actually I don't have time to effectively give it justice so much amazing weather is happening today.

Let's start way out west -- in Hawaii.

Portions of that state are waiting on high waves --- possibly in the 40 to 50 feet range! It has prompted a surf competition that only happens when waves top 20 feet. Surfers from all over the globe are flying in to "catch a wave" in Hawaii. This contest is so rare it has only happened 8 other times.

In the Rockies, we're warming up finally after a huge bubble of bitterly cold air dominated the weather for a few days. Here in Denver, we have been below 11 degrees for nearly 3 days, bottoming out at 17 below zero with a wind chill of 36 below zero just after sunrise Wednesday morning.

Locations across Wyoming dropped into the 20s below, with 30s and even a 40 below zero reading in the central valleys of that state.

The blizzard in the midwest has all but crippled much of the state of Iowa. Many locations are sitting under a foot of snow with drifts to 3 and 4 feet common.

Heavy snow has also fell across portions of Kansas, Nebraska, northern Missouri. Wisconsin has also been hard hit by the snow and wind.

All that is shifting into New England where many will see in excess of 6 inches of snow before all is said and done. Huge travel delays are being reported in the major northeast airports, esp. in and round New York City.

In the south, it is a contrast of 2 seasons -- with 18 degrees and snow flurries in Fayetteville, Ark., as reported to me by my childhood friend Kristin.

Meanwhile there was a tornado threat overnight across Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Now that threat has shifted into the Carolinas and far east Georgia.

Amazing Map -- U.S. Warnings

What an amazing map -- the large winter storm and huge cold air mass is evident with all the blues and reds from the Rockies to the Great Lakes.

Ahead of the storm, you can see some tornado warnings and a tornado watch in the southeast.

Bitter Cold Accompanies Winter Blast

Portions of northwest Montana and the adjacent areas of Canada awoke to temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees BELOW ZERO this morning!

Most of the rest of Montana is between 0 and 25 degrees BELOW ZERO.

Negative numbers can also be found in Wyoming, North Dakota, portions of Colorado, South Dakota and northwest Minnesota.

The storm system currently across the lower 48 states is impacting many with cold and frozen precipitation.

Many major cities are experiencing winter today, including Denver, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis.

On the south side of the storm, heavy rain is falling across the mid-south, from Louisiana to Mississippi and Alabama.

There have been reports of flooding this morning in Louisiana.

Severe weather is also possible today across the Gulf Coast states as warm and moist air is drawn up into the storm system.

We shouldn't experience a wide spread outbreak, but a few isolated storms can't be ruled out.

Take a look at the national CoCoRaHS "new snow" map - for today. As you can see, snow was reported nearly coast to coast on Monday. The heaviest totals were reported in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, near Wolf Creek Pass. Heavy snow was also reported in the mountains of northern Arizona, near Flagstaff.

Winter Gripping Nation

Wow the past several days have been really something in terms of wild weather.

Late last week we saw snow fall almost all the way to the Gulf Coast in some cases. Houston, Corpus Christi, the northern edges of New Orleans, Jackson and Meridian were just a few of the places that saw snow flying from the skies.

This week there is a major cold blast impacting the lower 48 states with temperatures in the negative numbers across a large chunk of the northern Rockies and high plains.

Some places in northwest Montana will be in the 20s to 30s BELOW zero.

A large swath of snow is expected from the higher terrain of southern California all the way to the Great Lakes. Places like Flagstaff, Denver, Kansas City, Omaha, Chicago and Detroit are all anticipating snow to fly.

It will be heavy in the central Rockies of Colorado, for example, with 2 to 4 feet between now and Wednesday.

Some places in the central plains are looking at potentially a foot of snow, such as Omaha.

Denver may see several inches of snow because the snow density is so light. Just a few hundredths of moisture will translate to an inch of snow. So if we see a quarter inch of moisture, that might mean 6 to 12 inches of snow!

The great thing about that type of snow is you can shovel it with a broom -- so light and fluffy!!

Jet Stream Bringing Active Weather To Nation

Good morning from snowy and chilly Denver, Colorado! It's hovering around 13 to 15 degrees with light snow. The commute has been aweful today.

So although the official start to winter is still a little under 3 weeks away, the climatological/meteorological winter began yesterday, Dec. 1.

And boy does it feel like winter in many locations. Temperatures are in the mid 30s to lower 40s as far south as northern Mississippi and southern Arkansas.

Ahead of the cold air, we have seen some strong to severe thunderstorms across the Florida panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Georgia today. There has been 1 tornado reported on Eglin Air Force Base.

Meanwhile, areas in and around the Great Lakes have seen snow over the past 36 hours, including around Buffalo, NY where 6 inches fell.

And some bitter cold can be found in the mountains of Montana today where readings are between 0 and 20 degrees below. Some of that cold air is sliding down the spine of the Rockies with near zero temperatures expected in Cheyenne, WY and Denver, CO tonight.

Dry and mild weather can be found across the deserts of the southwest.

And looking ahead, a few of the forecast models indicate a chance for some light snow as far south as central Texas by Friday night. We'll have to watch and see how this evolves.

2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season Ends, Most Quiet Since 1997

Yesterday marked the official end of the hurriacne season. It was the calmest season in over a decade thanks to El Nino.

Although not common, we can still see a stray tropical system in the first few weeks of December.

Click here for a link to a story about the season released yesterday by NOAA.