Northeast U.S. Slammed With Snow

It has been snowing hard for a few days across portions of the northeast U.S. - with New York state hard hit.

This low pressure has brought an "on-shore" flow into New England - so the right half of the storm, which has been slamming eastern Long Island, Rhode Island, Massachusettes, Maine and New Hampshire has seen rain - and very heavy rain - with totals exceeding 5 inches in some cases.

The left half of the storm system has been snow - with New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania taking a beating from Mother Nature.

In some cases over 30 inches of snow has fallen so far.

On the radar yesterday, it was so cool to see the rain and snow line - it roughly followed the eastern border of New York state. Everything to the right was rain and the left was snow.

I wish I had taken a snapshot of the radar picture to show you.

Winter Returns To Texas

A storm system is moving across Texas today with all kinds of winter weather advisories and watches.

Snow, sleet and a mix is potentially going to fall across most of the state, including in most of the major cities. Even the upper Texas coast may see a little taste of winter over the next 24 hours!

Snow Retreating Northward

The US snow cover is slowly eroding, with most of the south now "back to normal" - but considering how late in the season it is, there is still a fair amount of the country covered by the white stuff!

Now compare the current snow cover to this time last year in the picture below. HUGE DIFFERENCE!
I wouldn't expect any MAJOR warming trends anytime soon - we've gotta melt this glacier first!

Shifting Weather Pattern Perhaps?

Well it looks like things are shifting a bit as we head into the end of February.

Although it is still below normal for many in the temperature department, there is the hint of a slight warming trend, especially in the southern states.

For instance, I was just looking at the forecast for Little Rock, Ar and I saw some 50s in their future - it has been a while since they saw those kind of temps.

Also, the east is fairly quiet - no major storms on the map today.

Here in the west, the pattern has finally turned active for the central Rockies. We had a nice little snow here in Denver on Thursday, and have off and on chances through early next week as a few systems move through the region.

Overall, it is a sign that we are nearing springtime - before you know it we will be talking about the first thunderstorms of the year!

It Comes & Goes Fast In The South, Lake Erie Finally Freezes

Well the snow is rapidly retreating across the deep south - but the big "glacier" across the northern half of the United States is holding strong.

And Lake Erie has frozen over for the first time in several years.

On the northern fringes the ice is paper thin, while on the southern portions it is a few inches thick.

Now that it is frozen, it will "turn off" the lake effect snow for areas downwind of the lake. At least for a few weeks, until it thaws.

Snow On Ground In 49 States

I am sure it has happened before,  but I don't recall it in my short life - snow is currently on the ground in 49 states, including portions of northwest Florida!

Look at this map!

The only holdout was Hawaii, and usually you can even find a little snow there on Mauna Kea, but right now, there is none.

Records Fall With Southern Snowfall

Dallas, Texas set a new record for the largest single daily snow on Thursday - picking up a foot of the white stuff! The entire DFW metro area received anywhere from 8 to 14 inches of snow.

Even southeast Texas saw snow - in places like College Station and Bryan. It is the second snow this season for that region. The last time southeast Texas saw snow 2 times in one snow season was back in 1985.

Today the snow has moved east along the Gulf Coast. Places like Baton Rouge, Jackson, Mobile, Biloxi, Pensacola, Atlanta, and Charleston will see some flakes fly or already have seen them fly.

Winter storm warnings cover the entire Gulf Coast region. This is amazing - just take a look at the map below!

Here We Snow Again

More snow is falling today across the mid-Atlantic - adding insult to injury for those still recovering from the last storm.

I have some friends in central Virginia that are going on Day 5 without power. They are cooking food in the fireplace and being as resourceful as possible.

Meanwhile, schools remain closed across central and northern Arkansas from the Monday snow storm.

Snow has finally ended across parts of the upper midwest after leaving up to a foot a fresh snow across portions of Minnesota and Iowa.

And just take a look at this - the amount of snow that remains on the ground in the lower 48. Amazing! It has looked like this for nearly a month now - in terms of the extent of the coverage.

Old Man Winter Lives On Across Lower 48

My goodness what an absolutely amazing winter this has been - winter storm after winter storm - in places that typically don't have to deal with this type of weather.

Snow is once again flying across portions of the mid-south, from Little Rock to Memphis is where some of the heaviest snow is falling today.

Another system is clipping through the upper midwest, bringing heavy snow to places like Minneapolis and Des Moines.

These two systems will join forces to bring another round of heavy snow to the mid-Atlantic states, with the current bullseye of heavy snow looking to take place between Baltimore and Philadelphia. But that doesn't mean places like Washington D.C. will escape the storm - they could see at least 6 more inches of snow from this storm, and depending on the track, potentially up to 12 to 18 inches.

Southern New England will get in on the snow this go around too.

Heavy rain has been falling in southern California this weekend  - triggering mudslides. More rain is in the forecast.

Here in Denver - we saw our first accumulating snow since early January - which was a welcome sight!

Winter Storm Deja Vu

Well it may be a repeat of the pre-Christmas storm - with the potential for another snow event in the Washington D.C. area that drops 1 to 2 feet of snow!

Absolutely amazing!

Here in Denver it doesn't seem like we could buy a snow storm at this point.

This storm will definitely disrupt travel starting as early as noon on Friday for both air and land travel in the Washington D.C, Baltimore, Philadelphia vicinity.

Flash flooding has been reported in portions of California with the latest storm to move in, and heavy rain is also falling in the south.

A band of moderate snow will slow travel across the Interstate 70 corridor from St. Louis to Indianapolis to Columbus.

Phil's Prediction: 6 More Weeks

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Tuesday morning, meaning winter will last another six weeks, according to German tradition.

The Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil's forecast at dawn on Gobbler's Knob, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Since 1887 Phil has seen his shadow nearly 100 times, but there are no records for nine years.

Snow Covers Nearly 75% Of U.S.

You won't see this happen too often - nearly 75% of the lower 48 states have snow on the ground - absolutely amazing!

Entire states are covered with snow - such as North Dakota and Minnesota - which isn't too uncommon. And virtually all of North Dakota has at least 8 inches of snow on the ground.

I don't think we will see any significant warming trends anytime soon with this great of an extent of snow cover.

What's In Store This February?

Well it's already the second month of 2010 - and that means the days will continue to get longer and warmer!! So those of you tired of winter - there is hope!

The outlook for the first 10 days of the month calls for more of the same.

It will remain cooler than normal for many of us with the storms continuing to take a sothern track across the United States.

A new series of storm systems will start moving into California this week and bring wind, rain and mountain snow. The storms will then move along the southern tier of states, across the deserts of the southwest, across Texas and into the southeast.

The middle of the week looks to be the most active - especially Wednesday and Thursday.

And more clipper systems will move out of Canada and across the northern tier of states, including the upper midwest, Great Lakes and New England.

The most quiet weather will be right around the central Rockies - with a bullseye around Denver. We have been quiet for several days now and it looks like that trend will continue. We sit right in between the northern and southern flow of storms - just far enough away from both branches of the jet stream to stay dry.

Our 14,000 foot wall of mountains to the west also helps keep us dry in this type of weather pattern.