Gulf storm dumps snow on South Texas

[Jeb]

Stormy around the Gulf of Mexico

9:55 A.M. ET 12/25/2004

 

James Wilson, Sr. Meteorologist, The Weather Channel

 

 

A history making snowstorm from Galveston and the southern suburbs of Houston to the last 150 miles of the Rio Grande delivered a white Christmas for many for the first time ever. Locations in the Rio Grande Plains to the coastal sections of southeast Texas had 3 to 12 inches of snowfall. A simply amazing event has occurred for a region that rarely sees snow in December. Snow if happens at all usually waits till late January or February. The good news is that the snow is over. The bad news is that its cold and roadways are snow and ice covered so travel will be treacherous for a day or so on I-37, I-35, and south of I-10. Even down to Brownsville and Harlingen snow and sleet accumulated to make bridges and overpasses a danger till it melts. The storm that brought all the winter is now deepening in the Gulf of Mexico and is offering freezing rain and the chance for more sleet and snow from southern Louisiana to extreme southern Mississippi. In Florida, it spells heavy rain and possible gusty thunderstorms today into early Sunday. The thunderstorms could turn severe when the storm tries to cross over into the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday. As it heads into the Atlantic there is enough cold air in the Carolinas and extreme eastern Georgia to have light mixed precipitation (snow and sleet) on the rain shield's western fringe from Athens to Columbia to Raleigh as it races up the East Coast. Late Sunday into early Monday, New Jersey, the eastern end of Long Island and Cape Cod will need to watch for some blustery snow and winds from this storm before it heads into the Maritimes.

 

Another storm system will roll into the Pacific Northwest today. Look for rain to develop in the cities of Seattle and Portland with snow in the Cascades. The storm system that will bring this rain and mountain snow will eventually change the pattern in the United States. The storm will move down the West coast toward Los Angeles ending their dry stretch of weather. The deepening weather system will allow the flow to relax in the East. This will offer a large warm-up for the South to the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic next week. I bet all those tired of the cold will welcome that.