National Weather at 720pm November 26 2004

[Jeb]

A stormy one-two punch

7:24 P.M. ET 11/26/2004

 

M. Ressler, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel

 

 

 

Midwest

The developing Plains storm will take aim on the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley on Saturday. Heavy wet snow will blanket northeast Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan to depths of 4 to 8 inches with locally higher amounts to 1 foot. Meanwhile, rain will douse the remainder of Wisconsin and Michigan plus Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. As the low pressure deepens over the Great Lakes later Saturday, the winds will turn strong and gusty both out in advance of and behind the storm. On Sunday, only gusty northwest winds and snow showers will be left around the Great Lakes. As the Midwest dries out and in some cases digs out the second half of the weekend, snow will already be developing across parts of Nebraska and northern Kansas as the Southwest storm begins to take center stage. In the coming week, the Southwest storm will track across country to the eastern Great Lakes by Wednesday, spreading another possibly significant swath of snow from Kansas to Michigan and dumping more rain on the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Temperatures will be increasingly below average in the central Plains.

 

Northeast

After a dry Saturday across most of the Northeast, a front will bring locally heavy rain to the region Saturday night and Sunday. By Sunday, the rain will focus on the Delaware and Hudson Valleys and New England. The rain will be gone for the new workweek both Monday and Tuesday, but return midweek as the Southwest storm finally arrives. Except for Sunday where temperatures over New England will be 5 to 12 degrees above average, the region will generally see temperatures 5 degrees either side of average through midweek which means 30s and 40s north to 50s and low 60s southern Virginia.

 

South

A quick moving front will sweep a band of rain from the lower Mississippi Valley (where thunderstorms could briefly erupt) early Saturday to off the Southeast coast by very early Sunday. Many areas will pick up between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch of rain. Most of the South will be rain-free on Sunday, but, remember last week, the wet stormy setup will begin anew on Monday. Heavy rain will develop from eastern portions of Oklahoma and Texas, through the lower Mississippi Valley, into the western Tennessee Valley while snow blankets parts of the southern high Plains. The wet weather will expand eastward on Tuesday and then sweep eastward on Wednesday to off the Southeast Coast by early Thursday. More severe thunderstorms and flooding are possible. Several locations in eastern Texas will add to their wettest November on record before the month closes. The South will get a chance to dry out on Thursday, but much of the region could be quite chilly.

 

West

A new upper-level disturbance will slide down the West Coast Saturday to form the next storm in the Southwest on Sunday. Lighter showers and mountain snow will accompany the system's southward slide. By Sunday, locally heavy snow will be falling across much of Colorado, southeast Utah, northern Arizona and northern New Mexico while showers increase across the desert areas. Denver should pick up at least several inches of snow by Monday. Storm after storm continues to assault on the drought. The snow will continue over the Four Corners' states Monday into Tuesday. Many mountain locations from the White Mountains of Arizona to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico could pick up 1, 2 or more feet of snow by Tuesday. A new showery system will hit the West Coast from San Francisco northward on Tuesday. Temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees below average across the Southwest quadrant of the nation during the first part of the week.

 

There is no tropical weather to speak of today so there will be no such post today.