…Extremely critical fire weather conditions continue across coastal
Southern California through Tuesday…
…Blast of Arctic air set to push across much of the eastern half of the
U.S through Wednesday…
…Locally heavy lake effect snow showers downwind of the Great Lakes
through Wednesday…
Overall, the weather pattern through Wednesday will feature mostly dry
weather as a drier than average airmass is forecast to encompass much of
the lower 48. Despite the lack of moisture and widespread precipitation,
weather happenings ranging from extreme fire weather, to locally heavy
lake effect snow, to Arctic cold will still pose a threat of significant
impacts over the next couple of days.
After strong downslope Santa Ana winds produced multiple wildfires that
devastated communities across Southern California last week, yet another
damaging, downslope, offshore wind event is ramping up again to start the
new work week. Winds are expected to gust upwards of 55 to 75 mph across
portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Tuesday. These high
winds will have the potential to produce damage to trees and power lines
which could lead to widespread power outages. The greater concern however
will be the strength of the winds when combined with very dry relative
humidities and dry fuels. This combination will result in extremely
critical fire weather conditions, as forecast by the Storm Prediction
Center. Not only will these extreme and dangerous conditions make fighting
ongoing fires much more difficult, but these will make new ignitions much
more likely. New fires that do develop will have the potential to grow and
spread rapidly, adding to the danger of the situation.
Meanwhile, another blast of Arctic air that has already surged into the
Upper Midwest will continue to push south and east into the Mid-Atlantic
and Northeast for Tuesday. The airmass will be modifying/losing vigor as
it reaches the East Coast, but will still be responsible for below average
temperatures Tuesday into Wednesday for the Eastern Seaboard. Heavy lake
effect snow showers are expected to develop through tonight as the colder
air moves across the Great Lakes, with localized snowfall accumulations of
1-2 feet for isolated locations which experience persistent banding
through Tuesday night, mainly east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Miller/Otto
Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php