Monitoring Tsunami Impacts Across the Pacific; Air Quality Concerns; Dangerous Heat; Critical Fire Weather for the West

Tsunami impacts continue for portions of the Pacific basin. Wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air in Midwest to Great Lakes. Heat dome spans Mississippi Valley to Mid-Atlantic with excessive heat warnings and advisories. Critical fire weather in Great Basin to Pacific Northwest (dry thunderstorms). Cold front spawns severe storms/heavy rain in Central U.S. today, shifts to East Coast Thursday. Read More >

February 21-22, 2013
Winter Storm

A significant winter storm system over the Plains moved into the mid-Mississippi Valley, spreading a wintry mix of precipitation across the Ohio Valley during the evening hours of February 21 into the morning hours of February 22. With sub-freezing temperatures near the surface, the precipitation started off as a mix of sleet/snow early on and then transitioned to mainly freezing rain as warmer air aloft nosed into the region. Snow and sleet accumulations were generally less than an inch, and ice accumulations from freezing rain generally ranged from one to two tenths of an inch.