Nat'l Weather for October 18 2004 (10pm)

[Jeb]

Two major storm systems

9:57 P.M. ET 10/18/2004

 

John Desjardins, Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel

 

 

Midwest

Severe thunderstorms swept across the Mississippi Valley on Monday afternoon, with extensive damage being reported in central Arkansas and eastern Missouri. Several tornadoes touched down, including at least one near Little Rock and several southwest of St. Louis. Heavy rain also fell across portions of the Ohio Valley, with parts of Ohio and Kentucky receiving over three inches of rain. The severe thunderstorms will diminish during the overnight hours, but locally heavy rain will continue across Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The rain will exit the Ohio Valley through the first half of the day on Tuesday, with a drying trend to follow. Elsewhere, a few showers will fall across the Upper Midwest as a disturbance rotates through the area. Mainly sunny skies are expected across the Plains. High temperatures will be generally in the 50s and 60s. Cooler 40s will hug the U.S.-Canadian border. A few 70-degree readings are expected from the central Plains to the Tennessee Valley.

 

West

A significant early-season storm will move into the West Coast on Tuesday. While showers have been falling across parts of western Washington and Oregon throughout the day, more significant rainfall will be moving onshore overnight. The hardest hit areas will likely be southern Oregon and northern and central California. Several inches of rain are possible, which could create flooding problems in the burned areas of the Sierras. Speaking of the mountains, winter storm warnings are in effect for California's high terrain, where well over a foot of snowfall is possible with this storm. Additionally, wind gusts to 50 mph are possible across the northern half of California. This storm system will impact the entire West. Look for showers across the Great Basin and into the central Rockies, with snow at the higher elevations. Showers are also possible across Southern California and northern Arizona by late in the day. Unsettled weather will continue across the region into midweek as a deep trough moves into the region. All of the clouds and precipitation will keep high temperatures ten to twenty degrees cooler than average across the region for the next several days.

 

South

Scattered showers and thunderstorms fell across the Southeast on Monday. Some storms turned severe across parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. More showers and thunderstorms are possible across the Southeast again on Tuesday, with severe weather possible in the same areas as Monday. Highs will be in the 70s and 80s across the Southeast. Farther west, abundant sunshine allowed for temperatures to soar to record levels. Dallas hit a record of 93, while a 91-degree reading was a record at Fort Smith in western Arkansas. Tuesday will be a similar day. Look for sunny skies with highs in the 80s and 90s. More records will likely be set again on Tuesday.

 

Northeast

After a mainly dry day, showers began falling across Pennsylvania and West Virginia by mid-afternoon. Rainfall will be on the increase across the entire region on Tuesday. Heavier rain may fall for much of the day along the I-95 corridor from Boston to New York. Rain should begin to taper off across the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas during the afternoon. The only part of the Northeast that will likely escape the rain on Tuesday will be the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. High temperatures across New York and New England will be quite cool, only in the 40s and 50s. Milder readings in the 60s are expected across southern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Highs in the 70s will be felt across much of Virginia.