It snowed on Sunday in the Swiss capital of Bern and it certainly wasn’t enough to disrupt travel or most outdoor activities as it only amounted to about an inch and a half. It was, however, the latest snowfall ever recorded in Bern with the previous latest date for snow on May 1st in 1945. The unusual cold snap that led to this snowfall in Europe looks like it may continue for another ten days or so before more normal temperatures return to the central part of the continent. The unusually late cold and snow hasn’t been confined to that side of the Atlantic Ocean as parts of the interior western US, for example, continue to get accumulating snowfall even as we slide well into the month of May. In fact, there is a strong likelihood that Denver, Colorado receives another couple inches of snow later this week and new accumulations are possible in other parts of the Rocky Mountains.
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Deep upper-level low pressure will intensify over the next couple of days as it slowly grinds its way across the southern states. The combination of this strong wave of energy in the upper atmosphere and an influx of very moist low-level air will result in a severe weather threat today in the region from Texas-to-Kansas and later tomorrow across Mississippi, Alabama and perhaps as far north as Tennessee. In addition to the severe weather threat which includes the potential for large hail and tornadoes, heavy rainfall is likely later today in the south-central states and then on Thursday across the southeastern US. Any heavy rainfall can result in localized flooding as much of the eastern half of the nation is experiencing well-saturated ground conditions. The heavy rainfall and severe weather threat will reach the eastern seaboard on Friday afternoon and evening with the possibility of strong-to-severe thunderstorms from the Mid-Atlantic region to Florida.
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The grass will certainly get off to a good start in the Mid-Atlantic region over the next few weeks as water will be quite plentiful – much as it was for all of the last growing season. The Mid-Atlantic region will get hit by back-to-back rain events in coming days and each one can result in some heavy downpours and perhaps even some strong thunderstorm activity. Looking ahead, there is even a good chance at a third significant rain event at the end of the next week for much of the eastern US including the Mid-Atlantic as the overall wet pattern shows no sign of slowing down.
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Yesterday at this time temperatures were in the 70’s across the Denver metro region and today they’re in the 30’s, a blizzard warning is in effect and the game between the Rockies and Braves has been called off hours ahead of time. A major storm will bring a variety of impacts to the Rockies, central and northern Plains from later today into Thursday that will include heavy snowfall, whiteout conditions, and wind gusts as high as 60 mph. The bullseye region for this springtime blizzard will extend from northeastern Colorado-to-central Minnesota and some spots in this corridor can see accumulations of 1-2 feet during this upcoming event.
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A major storm will bring a variety of impacts to the Rockies, central and northern Plains from later tomorrow into Thursday that will include heavy snowfall, whiteout conditions, and winds as high as 60 mph. The bullseye region for this springtime blizzard will likely extend from northeastern Colorado-to-central Minnesota and some spots in this corridor can see accumulations of 1-2 feet during this upcoming event.
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The month of April began with a colder-than-normal air mass in the eastern US and it looks like we’ll have additional cold air outbreaks over the next couple of weeks or so. Teleconnection indices such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) both signal a sharp drop in coming days to negative territory which typically results in the penetration of cold air outbreaks from central Canada into the eastern US. Medium-range forecast maps of 500 mb height anomalies support this notion of additional cold air outbreaks as we progress through the month of April with “high-latitude blocking” in evidence over northern Canada and Greenland.
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It looks like we may have to wait a bit longer for sustained springtime warmth in the Mid-Atlantic region as despite a dramatic warm up on Friday and Saturday, we’ll turn sharply colder again for the first half of next week. In fact, there can be a second cold shot late next week that makes its way into the Mid-Atlantic region which would mean we may have to wait until the second week of April for more sustained springtime warmth. In addition, there will be a deep upper-level feature sliding across the southern states early next week with cold air in place across the NE US/Mid-Atlantic. This system could push off the Carolina coastline and stay south of here, but it’ll be something to closely monitor in coming days to see if it can make a run up the eastern seaboard.
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Even though spring “officially” gets underway on Wednesday, there are still plenty of cold air masses around the northern hemisphere and – if the timing is just right – there can be some significant wintry weather in the Northeast US and even in the Mid-Atlantic region in coming days. This time of year is notorious for slow-moving and powerful storms and there are signs that two such systems may have an interaction with some impressive cold air outbreaks. The first event of interest will take place from Thursday into Friday and it will actually feature two separate strong waves of energy in the upper atmosphere. Soaking rain is likely to take place on Thursday in the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor as a result of the first wave of energy and then the second wave will combine with an Arctic frontal system on Friday to generate windy and cold conditions in the Northeast US/Mid-Atlantic and likely numerous snow showers perhaps even some snow squall activity.
Another strong and slow-moving system will cross the country this weekend and potentially arrive in the Mid-Atlantic region early-to-mid next week at the same time another cold air mass dives southeastward from central Canada towards this region. It looks like this rather volatile weather pattern with strong and slow-moving storm systems will continue into the early part of April along with up and down temperature swings.
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Unseasonably mild conditions today across the Mid-Atlantic region ahead of a strong cold front which will usher in much colder air for the weekend. As the front arrives later today, the threat for showers will increase and there can be a few strong thunderstorms mixed in; especially, along of and to the east of the I-95 corridor. After a cold, dry weekend, a fast-moving “clipper” system will drop southeastward and into the Mid-Atlantic region late Sunday night/early Monday and it can produce some snow in the region extending from DC-to-southern NJ on the south side to southern PA on the north side including the Philly area – perhaps even small accumulations in some areas.
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All the ingredients are coming together for a powerful storm system to be located in the middle of the country at mid-week. This storm will have wide ranging impacts from heavy snow to its north and west and potential severe weather in its warm sector to the south and east of the low pressure center along with hurricane-force winds. The central pressure of this storm system is likely to bottom out near 972 mb (28.70 inches) late Wednesday which could very well set some low pressure records in that part of the country.
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