Around The Good Ole USA

There are some weather problems. Big chunk of the landscape cold. Let’s skip around the country and this is not an all-inclusive list:

ALABAMA
No problems today. A gloomy, cold day with scattered patches of light rain and drizzle. Late morning temperatures were as low as the mid 30s near the Georgia border. Most areas in the upper 30s and 40s.

RALEIGH
Numerous traffic accidents today due to ice and snow.

TULSA
Winter Storm Watch Friday evening through Sunday morning. Snow north of I-40 is expected to accumulate to 5-7 inches. This will also be the story for NW Arkansas. 1-3 inches of snow and sleet south of I-40. Numerous power outages are still the problem from previous ice events.

OKLAHOMA
Heavy snow spreading into the west and north sections Saturday. 4-8 inch accumulations forecast, especially north of I-44. Amounts may exceed 8 inches in places like Ponca City, Enid and Stillwater. (Stillwater is best known for Oklahoma State University.) All but one county in the State of Oklahoma is under some kind of winter weather advisory.

NEW MEXICO
A major snowstorm for a big part of the state mainly Friday into early Saturday. 4-8 inches expected for the NW mountains, but some places in that area will get 12 inches. 5-10 inches fpr Gallup and Grants in the west part of the state. Down on the SE Plains, 6-12 inches of new snow expected for places like Roswell. All but four counties in New Mexico under some kind of watch or advisory.

AMARILLO
4-8 inches of new snow expected from this new storm across the Texas Panhandle.

CALIFORNIA
Enormous damage to the state’s citrus from all of the recent cold weather. For example, in the Interior Valley it was 27 this morning at Sacramento. It has been colder than that. First snow since 1962 fell in Los Angeles and a rare snow cover on the beach at Malibu.

ARIZONA
6 below zero this morning in Flagstaff with 5 inches of snow on the ground. It was zero in Happy Jack with 12 inches of snow. Happy Jack is a lumber town in the middle of a national forest southeast of Flagstaff. I have been to that remote community. North of Flagstaff this morning, it was 13 below zero at Sunset Crater with 12 inches of snow on the ground.

ALASKA
The entire state is under a blanket of snow and ice. Not that unusual for this time of year. 39 inches of snow on the ground at Nome. We like to check in each day with a small town that we are especially watching this winter. That town is Whittier and they have 84 inches of snow on the ground. It was 33 below this morning at Wainwright, Alaska–about the coldest in the state.

EXTREMES
Warmest yesterday 83 in Miami. Coldest in the lower 48 this morning 23 below zero inside Yellowstone National Park and 27 below at the west entrance to the park where there is 20 inches of snow on the ground. It is 64 below zero at Ojmjakon, Siberia. Just to thaw you out a bit, the present temperature at Gascoyne Junction in West Australia is 104. Remember, it is summer there.

USA SNOW COVER
The daily NWS estimate shows 50% (49.5%) of the lower 48 covered with snow or ice this morning. You can draw a line from about Indianapolis to Little Rock and Waco and that is the southward extent. A month ago at this time, there was 17% coverage.

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