Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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.

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