Severe Weather Across the Center of the Nation; Fire Weather Concerns for Southwest and California; Snow for the Central Rockies

Severe thunderstorms will continue to impact the center of the Nation through today. Very large hail, strong tornadoes, and damaging winds are expected from the Great Lakes into the central/southern Plains; Flash flooding is possible for portions into the mid-Mississippi Valley. Critical fire weather conditions for the Southwest and central valley of California today. Winter hangs on for Rockies. Read More >

Storm Summary

A deeply occluded surface storm, which tracked nearly due north from the Ohio River Valley on Sunday December 29, then moved into Michigan on the 30th during the morning hours. As the deep surface low tracked north toward northern Lake Michigan it, in combination with an equally deep upper level system brought in enough cold air to turn the rain that was falling to lake enhanced snow showers by late afternoon. Snow was aided considerably by moisture enhancement from Lake Michigan. Since the storm was fairly deep, 989 mb at 2 pm on the 30th, in combination with the 1033 mb high over Colorado, caused gusty southwest winds that gusted to near 40 mph at times Monday evening into Tuesday morning. The combination of snow and blowing snow caused hazardous travel conditions to develop from the late evening hours of the 30th into the 31st.