A Stormy Start for the Week

Monday and Tuesday will be busy weather days even though this depiction of the surface weather (the Sunday afternoon GFS) doesn't look impressive with a low near Omaha at noon Monday.

But there will be an outbreak of severe thunderstorms across Louisiana, Mississippi and southern Alabama Monday afternoon and night with large hail, damaging wind and tornadoes. It looks like there will be short lines of severe thunderstorms. Heavy rain (2-3") will fall over eastern Arkansas, Mississippi and western Tennessee. The rain will be enough to cause flooding. The heavy rain will be over eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, Alabama and northwest Georgia on Tuesday -- and there will be a lot of flooding there.

Meanwhile the Northern Plains will get some heavy snow Monday and the Upper Mississippi Valley will get blasted on Tuesday. Many areas will have 3-6" of snow and 35 mph wind. Western Minnesota and eastern South Dakota may pick up 10" of snow with the same for the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Washington State gets whacked Monday night and Tuesday with 2 to 4 inches of rain below 4500 feet and 2 to 3 feet of snow above 5000 feet.

Monday: Come Chat With Me!

Next week I will make video chat available at select times during the day. It will be open to everyone on a trial basis at first but what I would like to see is enough subscribers to eliminate the gaps.

Go to www.TheOrrStore.com and "Talk to a Forecaster" to see the details.

Give it a test drive next week at here.

I will chat to you then!

Freeze for the Southwest

The wild weather this weekend will be over the West where heavy snow is likely the next 2 days across northern California, most of Oregon and parts of Idaho above 4500 ft. Snowfall will be on the order of 1 to 2 feet. At the lowest elevations rainfall will be 0.50 to 1.50 inch.

Both Saturday and Sunday night temperatures across California's Central Valley, Las Vegas and Phoenix will drop into the 20s for a hard freeze lasting 6 to 8 hours.

As the weather system moves into the Southern Plains severe thunderstorms will develop across Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning, then Alabama, Georgia, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and the western Carolinas Tuesday afternoon and night.
Flooding will be major problem.

Tornadoes, Floods and Freezes

Tornadoes will be possible this afternoon  across eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee and northwest Mississippi. Flooding is likely through Friday morning for central Tennessee and Kentucky as up to 5" of rain falls.

It will be nastier early next week as flooding becomes national news Monday and Tuesday for Kentucky and Tennessee as another 5" of rain falls.

Tonight through Sunday night California's Central Valley will freeze. The cold temperatures and frosty conditions will even reach the outskirts of Los Angeles. A freeze is likely for Las Vegas and Phoenix the next four nights mornings. 

A Long Holiday Weekend

In the meantime, heavy rain and strong winds will press in across the Pacific Northwest into the weekend. Cold air will reach the Great Basin the weekend and some of it will spill into California's Central Valley where a hard freeze will be possible both Saturday morning and Sunday morning. Next Monday will be nasty over the Pacific Northwest where 15 to 25 inches of snow will fall. Severe thunderstorms will be possible from Louisiana to central Tennessee, and flooding will be likely across northern Alabama, eastern Tennessee, southeast Kentucky and far western North Carolina  with 2 to 5 inches of rain (bringing the total for Thanksgiving and Monday to 10 inches in some areas!).

Thanksgiving Day will be very wet and stormy from east Texas to western Pennsylvania. Severe thunderstorms will be likely from the Gulf Coast to Tennessee, including northern Mississippi and northern Alabama. Flooding will be a huge problem from northern Mississippi and northern Alabama, much of Tennessee, Kentucky, and much of West Virgina.

The long holiday weekend will be more than eventful - as far as the weather goes. It all starts Wednesday with a mix of freezing rain and snow across Minnesota and eastern South Dakota, and blizzard conditions across much of North Dakota, northwest Minnesota, parts of South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
Shoot me any questions you might have about the weekend weather. You can also find me on Twitter.

Here Comes Winter!

Much colder air is coming down from the north. Here are some thoughts on West Coast and Northern Plains weather, and something interesting about east Arctic hunting.

Minnesota Snow

Snow in Minnesota? It snows there all the time, right? So what's the big deal?
This weekend's snow will be the first deep snowfall there in several months (there
was very little snow across much of Minnesota February through April).

But Minneapolis is also a hub for Delta/Northwest airlines so you can expect
major delays at airports Minneapolis feeds (Atlanta, Memphis, Los Angeles,
Denver, Chicago, Detroit, London and Amsterdam).