Weekly Weather Watch: Sunday, March 24th, 2024
Good Sunday to you. This week’s weather watch has some love for snow lovers. Part of this snowfall will attack drought conditions in the Upper Midwest. Now, a lot is going on beyond snowfall, so here are the highlights for this week’s weather:
Heavy snow targets the mountain ranges of the West and the Northern Plains through the Upper Midwest. (Colorado, blizzard warnings in place for parts of the metro areas - weather5280.com has the latest).
High Wind will accompany that winter pattern hitting the central states.
A significant chill will hit the Plains during the next few days.
Severe thunderstorms are possible across the South.
Heavy rain for the South and Southeast.
For Alaska and Western Canada, there is growing potential for a major Bering Sea storm for later in the week/weekend.
For Eastern Canada, heavy snow and wind from Ontario to the Maritimes.
For Hawaii, “typical” trade wind activity this week.
Here is a graphic to outline many of those threats.
Let’s watch the animation, which shows storm motion this week.
With that storm flow in mind, it makes sense to see the orientation of precipitation as follows. Note the reds on the map are for at least 2.5”, and there are a lot of areas on the map to hit this mark, including Minnesota and Wisconsin.
From that total precipitation mapping above, let us look at snowfall. I mentioned a lot of water coming to the Upper Midwest, and snowfall totals during the next ten days can climb to more than two feet in many areas.
Okay, let’s turn to temperatures for a moment. Considering the time of year, I will call it significantly cold from the Texas Panhandle to the Central Plains. For one example, here are the lows for Tuesday morning.
I think you’ve been sufficiently briefed on the highlights this week. Snow and a chill will be big stories, along with potential severe weather and rain for the South. Until next time, Blessings. -Matt.
The weather pattern is about to make a pretty sharp turn across the country. California starts the week with unusual October heat, including highs well into the 90s and even lower 100s in the Central Valley. Meanwhile, much cooler fall air has reached the Great Lakes and Northeast. The Gulf Coast and Southeast stay unsettled, and there’s that record to watch: a tropical depression is likely to develop over the Gulf this week and could strengthen as it moves northeast. If it becomes a hurricane after the 8th, 2026 will have the latest-first hurricane in the Atlantic Basin record.