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Winter Storm Watch for Sunday night & Monday (snow & ice)
Mostly cloudy and dry tonight. A good time to prepare for next week’s events.
Not expected to be as bad as “2015” (see discussion below)
Watching the middle to end of next week for another possible winter storm
Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Vlog
48-Hour WX
Five-Day Forecast
Daily Forecast Summary
Today: Mostly cloudy, with a light wintry mix of rain and freezing rain/drizzle. Precip amounts will stay light.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy. This would be a good time to prepare for next week!
Sunday: Mostly cloudy. A wintry mix develops by evening and especially overnight.
Monday: Winter storm conditions.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy and cold.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. A wintry mix develops late.
48-Hour Precip Forecast
Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Concerns
Confidence for ice accumulations is increasing.
Significant impacts are expected.
This may end up being a significant snowfall on top of our ice. Stay tuned.
Meteorologist Mark’s Snow Day Forecast
There’s likely no avoiding the preacher this Sunday, folks. (ha)
I’m bravely going ahead and calling it…..There is a very good chance that there will be no school on Tuesday. I’m not even sure they’ll go to school ANY next week. I’d go ahead and prepare for that, if I were you.
Meteorologist Mark’s Wx Discussion
I want to begin by making a bold statement….this will not be like 2015. I’m not sure I would even compare this to that event. Keep in mind that 2015 was likely a generational event and we will probably never see anything like that again. Let’s certainly hope so.
So, why will this not be as bad? Well, first of all, ice accumulations will likely stay under one inch. That was not the case in 2015. Second, and MOST importantly, there will be little to no wind. That’s right, little to no wind. Remember, the ice accumulation in 2015 was bad and would have caused significant disruptions to travel, trees, and powerlines, for sure. BUT, remember, it was those 40-50 mph wind gusts blowing through those ice-covered trees and powerlines that REALLY brought on the destruction.
I wanted to state that because I know many of you have wondered if this would be as bad as 2015.
The forecast is challenging but a few things are becoming clearer. I continue to think that ice will stay at or just below one half inch. It could creep closer to 3/4″, that’s for sure, but I’m starting to become more convinced that this will be the half-n-half situation I’ve talked about in earlier posts…with ice, then snow. I’ve seen us get ice that stopped just short of being a major disaster, followed by just enough snow to stop short of disaster. I’m leaning more toward that solution. That would, of course, still cause significant disruptions to travel that will likely persist through Tuesday.
We have another winter storm coming Wednesday night but we’ll discuss that later. Just be aware that more ice and/or snow is likely coming Wednesday night and Thursday.
On This Day in Wx History
1962- Temperature at Nashville reaches 84 degrees, setting a record high for the month. Crossville’s reading of 79 degrees sets a February mark there, as well.
Can we just go back in time to 1962 and call off this whole winter storm? ha
Almanac
*34 Days until Spring!*
Yesterday’s National Temperature Extremes
High: 90° at Miles City, Florida
Low: -44° at White Sulphur Springs, Montana
Today’s National Wx Hazards
A wintery mix of precip can be found from North Carolina to New England. Snowflakes are flying across the Great Lakes. To the west, a major winter storm gathers strength, throwing ice at portions of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. That precip transitions to snow in the colder air found across the plains and Rockies. A lot of real-estate is covered by wintry precip today!
Tomorrow’s National Wx Hazards
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so much wintry weather on a weather map! A historic storm, for sure! Freezing rain and ice storm conditions will overspread an area from southern Texas to New York City. What a mess! Accumulating snowfall will fall from the skies from the Four Corners Region to New England! And then……another winter storm comes ashore the Pacific Northwest, with heavy snow and ice.
Weather Shots
The folks at the Space Needle in Seattle tweeted this photo last night. Seattle averages about five inches of snow per year. They are expecting 4-6 inches with this one storm. Quite the winter storm for them! I love this picture, though. One of my favorite cities to visit!
NASA Nerdology
It was during this week in 2019, mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent the last commands to ask NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars to call home. The engineers played “I’ll Be Seeing You” sung by Billie Holiday, as both a farewell and a promise to the rover. Just think, someday astronauts will walk up to this rover and may even repair it! What a cool thought!
So glad to have found you. This is really helpful, thank you!
Glad to have you following along, Megan!