ROANOKE, Va. – A powerful storm system near the West Coast is forcing feet of snow to fall along some of the higher passes of the Sierra Nevada through Tuesday.
Snowing hard and chain control in effect on highway 18, view here from Snow Valley at 7000 feet #castorm #CAWX #snow #socal pic.twitter.com/lNvY7QBgwU
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) December 14, 2021
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This same storm will travel from sea to shining sea, bringing along some different faces. The Rockies and Plains are under a multitude of wind alerts, as the storm will strengthen along the Rocky Mountains.
Peak wind gusts will be around 60-80 mph in parts of Colorado and Kansas. The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado has warned of gusts up to 100 mph in the Colorado Foothills.
This same wind will drive temperatures to near-record levels in the nation’s midsection. Temperatures will be as much as 30-35° above average in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois.
That warmth, along with an incredible amount of wind energy, will also provide a narrow severe weather threat from northwest Arkansas to southern Minnesota Wednesday.
As this storm drifts north, it will pull some warmer air into our area Thursday along a gusty wind (though gusts won’t be quite as strong here as in the Rockies and Plains). Any showers we see will mainly target the mountains at night.
A separate front will then sit nearby, providing the chance for showers Friday afternoon. Where exactly the front develops will determine how warm we get. Most forecast data takes it farther north, which would imply more warmth.
It lifts even farther north Saturday, meaning more unseasonable warmth for our area before cooling down Sunday and early next week.