…Stormy weather pattern to continue across the Northwestern U.S. into
this weekend with heavy lower elevation rains and higher elevation heavy
snows…
…Increasingly wet pattern developing from the Lower Mississippi Valley,
spreading northeast into the Tennessee Valley, Southern Appalachians and
Mid-Atlantic…
…Arctic air remains absent from the Lower 48 with much above average
temperatures across nearly all of the country…
The recent stormy weather pattern across the northwestern U.S. will
continue over the next few days as additional storm systems move off the
Pacific. The widespread precipitation that has occurred across the
Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest over the past 24 hours will be
followed by another heavy precipitation producer moving inland Thursday
night across Northern California into the Pacific Northwest and then
inland across the Northern Rockies on Friday. This will be followed by
another heavy precipitation producer moving inland Friday night across the
Pacific Northwest and into the Northern Rockies during Saturday. Yet
another Pacific storm will spread another round of heavy precipitation
into the Northwestern U.S. Sunday into Monday. By the end of the weekend,
rainfall totals of 3-5″+ likely through the Washington and Oregon
Cascades, northwest California coastal mountains into the northern Sierra,
while snowfall totals of 1 to 3 feet are likely in the highest elevations
of the Northwest. The recent wet weather pattern across the Northwest and
likelihood of additional widespread heavy precipitation amounts into this
weekend will result in increasing stream flows and soil saturation levels,
leading to an increasing threat of river flooding, rock and mudslides.
Wet weather will also be increasing over the next few days from Lower
Mississippi Valley, northeastward into the Tennessee Valley, Southern
Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic. Precipitation enhancing over eastern
portions of the Southern Plains this afternoon will spread into the Lower
Mississippi Valley/Tennessee Valley tonight, northward into the Upper
Mississippi Valley on Friday and eastward into the Southern Appalachians
and Mid-Atlantic Saturday and Sunday. While drought conditions have
improved over the past few weeks across portions of the South and East,
many areas still remain below average with precipitation, with the
upcoming rains much welcomed hydrologically.
While it will be stormy over the next few days across large portions of
the Lower 48, arctic air will remain absent as the overall flow across the
nation is from west to east, keeping arctic air well north of the
U.S./Canadian border. Much of the Lower 48 will see much above average
temperatures over the next few days. This will be a continuation to the
above average pattern for areas to the west of the Mississippi River, but
a reversal of the overall below average pattern that has dominated areas
east of the Mississippi during December. This much above average pattern
will support potential for record high morning low temperatures across the
Central Plains into the Mid to Upper Mississippi Valley on Friday and
across the Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region on Saturday.
Oravec
Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php