CNN
—
A big winter storm slammed into the western US over the weekend, blanketing mountain areas with heavy snow, and is now set to traverse the nation, threatening harmful blizzard conditions, sturdy tornadoes, and flooding this week.
“This winter storm is a true coast-to-coast, top-to-bottom impact that will be felt by every person in the country at some point this week,” CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller mentioned.
The storm already introduced avalanche warnings to components of the West, shutting down main highways as conditions turned icy.
More than 10 million individuals in over a dozen states are underneath some degree of winter climate alert because the highly effective storm strikes throughout the county, bringing with it a multiday extreme storm risk.
Sign up to receive weekly email updates from CNN Meteorologists.
The storm will strengthen because it travels eastward, bringing snow to the Rockies tonight, the place a foot of snow is anticipated earlier than the system strengthens much more.
The Upper Midwest, and northern and central Plains will get hit the toughest Monday evening into Tuesday as widespread heavy snow falls.
“Snow accumulations through Tuesday morning will generally range between 6 to 12 inches, centered on the Northern High Plains,” the climate prediction heart mentioned. “The highest snow totals are currently forecast for western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, where upwards of 18 to 24 inches is possible.”
Meanwhile, a widespread space from japanese Wyoming and Colorado to western South Dakota and Nebraska can even have winds gusts as excessive as 60 mph. Heavy snowfall and robust winds will set the stage for a blizzard, main to whiteout conditions and inconceivable journey.
Blizzard conditions are when there are sustained winds of 35 mph or increased and visibility under 1 / 4 mile for at the least three consecutive hours.
Winter storm alerts stretch from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and blizzard warnings prolong from simply west of Denver into the Dakotas.
“All preparations for this storm should be well underway and completed sooner rather than later,” the National Weather Service workplace in Rapid City mentioned.
Some locales contained in the blizzard warning areas might decide up as a lot as 20 inches of snow. The winds could possibly be sturdy sufficient to knock down tree limbs and trigger energy outages, and the cruel conditions could possibly be lethal for anybody open air.
“The cold wind chills, as low as 20 below zero, could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes,” the climate service workplace in Cheyenne, Wyoming, mentioned.
Further east, ice warnings blanket japanese North Dakota, the place practically half an inch of ice might accumulate. If it materializes, energy outages are sure and journey might be inconceivable.
Icing can be doable throughout southwestern Minnesota and western Iowa, the place as a lot as a tenth of an inch of ice might develop.
While the storm brings whiteout conditions to the North, the southern part of the storm can have the potential to bring late-season tornadoes together with sturdy thunderstorms.
On Monday night, storms will hearth up throughout western Kansas, in addition to throughout parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The Storm Prediction Center is anticipating storms to quickly develop tonight, after darkish.
A Level 2 of 5 threat of extreme climate has been issued for the world, together with Oklahoma City and Norman in Oklahoma in addition to Colby and Garden City in Kansas, and Wichita Falls in Texas.
“Occasional damaging winds, isolated large hail, and a couple of tornadoes will be possible tonight,” the Storm Prediction Center mentioned.
Track the storms as they develop here.
As the storm system strengthens and pushes eastward on Tuesday, the potential of damaging winds, hail, flash flooding and even sturdy tornadoes might be a priority for parts of the Deep South, particularly central Louisiana and japanese Texas.
“All modes of severe will be possible with damaging winds, hail and some more late fall tornadoes,” the climate service workplace in Shreveport mentioned.
Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria in Louisiana are in a Level 3 of 5 threat for extreme climate. Dallas, Fort Worth, and New Orleans are underneath a Level 2 threat.
“A couple of strong tornadoes will be possible, especially with any isolated storms which can develop just ahead of the main convective band,” the Storm Prediction Center mentioned.
By Wednesday, the storms will not be anticipated to be fairly as intense, however might nonetheless be sturdy alongside the Gulf Coast. New Orleans, Mobile and Tallahassee are all underneath a Level 2 of 5 threat of extreme climate, because the potential for tornadoes will nonetheless exist.
Very heavy rain can even be of concern as a number of inches of rain might fall in a brief period of time inside a few of the heaviest downpours.
There is a Level 2 of 4 threat of extreme rainfall centered throughout the Lower Mississippi River Valley as rainfall quantities might prime 4 inches, main to remoted pockets of flash flooding.
The space has been ravenous for rain because the Mississippi River has seen a few of the lowest water levels on record this fall. The rain this week might really assist the gauge close to Memphis get above low water stage for the primary time since mid-August. The slight bump in water degree is barely anticipated to be non permanent, nevertheless it’s a optimistic signal shifting ahead.
The storm already made for icy and harmful conditions on key roadways, with authorities on Saturday closing down an extended stretch of Interstate 80, from Colfax in Northern California to Stateline, Nevada, due to “blowing snow & near-zero visibility,” Caltrans, the state transportation company, mentioned on Twitter.
In the Sierra Nevada, snowpack totals are already above common, in accordance to the National Weather Service in Reno.
“The snowpack is about 225% of normal, so it’s more than twice what we’d be expecting this time in December,” mentioned Mark Deutschendorf, forecaster on the National Weather Service workplace in Reno.
The Tahoe Basin and the Eastern Sierra are seeing snowfall totals that are usually recorded in January.
The storm blanketed some mountain areas of drought-parched California with thick snow, together with Soda Springs within the northern a part of the state, which obtained 60 inches of snow in simply 48 hours.
“It looks a lot like Christmas out here,” Deutschendorf mentioned. “It didn’t come with a lot of wind, and it stuck to everything. It’s like a picture postcard.”
While he famous the snow totals thus far are spectacular, Deutschendorf mentioned he’s “cautiously optimistic” about this precipitation placing a big dent in the state’s drought.
“We had a similar run of storms last year. We had a nice head start, and then January through March were incredibly dry,” Deutschendorf defined.
In California over the weekend, 48 inches of snow fell in Twin Bridges in a 48-hour interval, 46 inches fell in Tahoe-Donner, 45 inches in Donner Peak and 44 inches at Palsades Tahoe Ski Base.
“We’re Buried,” the Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort wrote on its web site Sunday, sharing photographs of thick snow overlaying the ski resort in Olympic Valley, California.
“This is definitely a storm to remember. We’ve now received 7.5 feet of snow since December 1st. Plus, in just 24 hours from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, we received more than 35 inches of snow — the 6th largest snowfall total in 24 hours that we have on record,” resort operators wrote.
submit credit score to Source link