Big Weather

There are days when weather is a subtle as a butterfly flapping its wings in China. Then there are days when it's like a two by four hitting you on the head.

The two by four in this case is a huge vacuum of a storm slamming the west coast with high winds, rain and mountain snow. Blizzard warnings are flying for the Sierra Nevada range in California where 3 to 6 FEET of snow will blanket the slopes in the next two days. Widespread soaking rain will soak the lower elevations in much of California, Arizona and Nevada. This is good news for the drought stricken west.

On the front side of the storm, Chinook winds will race through Wyoming and Colorado with gusts over 60 mph. When the Chinooks blow that hard they can cause damage similar to severe thunderstorms here in Minnesota.

For us, the winds will bring a January thaw. Big storms pounding the west are the large scale mechanism that warms us up in winter, as milder Pacific air gushes in and replaces arctic air in the region.

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The forecast question for us in this pattern is always how much low stratus, advection fog, and drizzle we could develop as the warmer air glides over our cold snowpack. If it's thick, temps can be held down into the low to mid 30's. If the winds are able to mix the lowest 5,000 feet well, we may see sun and temps can top 40.

As you feel the wind bite today, know that it's pushing in warmer air in the next 48 hours. And it's part of a big weather system that is affecting the entire western U.S.

NOAA Storm Watch

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