Christmas Travel Woes

It is impossible to cover every single trouble spot in the USA for this travel weather posting, but we will do our best to cover the main points. I have been in weather before Kudzu arrived and it is extremely rare to see this many counties in the USA with some type of Winter Weather Advisory, Heavy Snow Warning, Winter Storm Warning or even some blizzard conditions.

BACKGROUND
The main villian in all this is a low-pressure area already under development over West Texas, SE New Mexico and Northern Mexico. Snow or sleet was already in progress this morning from NE Arizona, across Colorado, into the Central and Northern Plains and Midwest, including places like Iowa and the north part of Illinois and Indiana. Showers and thunderstorms were in progress from Missouri down into North Louisiana and quite a few showers already in progress in Mississippi. We will go into detail where the worst winter weather is located later in this post. But first, let’s cover some other possibilities. We know that people will be traveling in all parts of the country for Christmas.

GULF SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH
A rather stormy time. Numerous showers will reach the area tonight with very windy conditions. Numerous showers and thunderstorms on Thursday with heavy rain and some strong thunderstorms. Winds may reach over 30 mph even away from the thunderstorms. Low tonight 62. High Thursday 68. Christmas Day will be a lot cooler and become mostly sunny, but still windy at times. Lows in the 40s; highs in the 50s.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS
Very windy Thursday with gusts around 45 mph in the afternoon. A High Wind Watch is in effect. High in the 40s. For Christmas Day, showers are expected and very windy. SE winds could possibly gust over 60 mph at times, especially in the mountains. Snow showers Friday night. Saturday should be partly sunny and Sunday mostly sunshine. Quite cold weather will continue over the weekend with lows in the 20s and highs in the 30s and 40s. This morning there was still 30 inches of snow on the ground on 6,400-foot Mt. LeConte with a low of 12 degrees. The snow cover for Gatlinburg has decreased to only 1 inch.

ORLANDO
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be warm and breezy with highs near 78. A slight chance of afternoon showers Thursday and 40% Thursday night and Christmas Day.

NEW ORLEANS
There will be numerous showers and thunderstorms Thursday–some severe with damaging winds possible. They should get well over 1 inch of rain with a high near 66. Much colder Thursday night with a low of 38. Christmas Day should be partly sunny and cooler with much lighter winds and a high of 52.

HOUSTON
Numerous showers and thunderstorms today and tonight–some may be severe. High this afternoon 72; low tonight 52. Improving weather by Thursday afternoon and colder Thursday night with a low of 35. Christmas Day should be mostly sunny and cool with a high of 52.

PHOENIX AND ARIZONA DESERT
Much lighter winds over Southern Arizona–more like 5 to 10 mph through Christmas Day. The blinding duststorms of yesterday are gone. A tragic pileup of 30 or more vehicles on I-10 yesterday with numerous injuries and 4 fatalities near Casa Grande. Phoenix should be cool through Christmas Day with highs in the 50s.

PASADENA
I feel sure there are some very anxious Alabama fans already hitting the road. The Pasadena/Los Angeles area should have clear weather through Christmas Day with lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. A 20% chance of rain Saturday night through Monday.

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
The Storm Prediction Center has a Slight Risk for today and tonight for East Texas, most of Louisiana, Eastern Oklahoma and SW Arkansas. For tomorrow, the Slight Risk covers much of Louisiana, Central and South Mississippi, extreme SW Alabama and NW Florida.

Now let’s check out some of the real dangerous winter weather areas.

OKLAHOMA CITY
Winter Storm Watch late tonight through Thursday afternoon. Thunderstorms this afternoon, numerous at times. Colder tonight with a low of 38. For Thursday, snow and rain in the morning, then all snow in the afternoon. Windy with blowing snow. Winds will increase to 30 mph. Low Thursday night 20. Dry weather on Christmas Day and a high of 34.

DES MOINES
Light freezing rain already in progress in Iowa’s largest city. A Winter Storm Watch for Thursday through Friday evening. The freezing rain this morning should change over to snow and sleet this afternoon with a sheet of ice 1/10 of an inch. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is enough to cause all kinds of accidents. The precipitation could become mostly rain tonight, but also up to 1/2 inch of sleet. By Thursday night, it should be all freezing rain, snow and sleet with low in the mid 20s. Christmas Day should feature snow and additional light accumulations possible. More snow Friday night and Saturday with low temperatures zero to 5 above.

CHICAGO
Freezing rain, snow and sleet by this afternoon accumulating 1 inch. Windy. Rain and freezing rain tonight with additional ice accumulation up to 1 inch. Rain and freezing rain Thursday morning changing to rain in the afternoon with locally heavy rain. Quite windy. For Christmas Day, still a chance of showers and high in the upper 30s.

MILWAUKEE
They expect all wintry precipitation, including a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain accumulating 2 inches overnight. Light freezing rain will continue Thursday morning. Christmas Day a mix of rain and snow during the morning and all snow during the afternoon.

DENVER
Winter Weather Advisory until Thursday morning. 1 to 3 inches of snow today. Tonight will feature snow and blowing snow. The total accumulation from this storm expected to be 4 to 8 inches. Quite windy east of I-25. Low tonight 6; high Thursday 15-20 and low Thursday night zero to 5 above. Mostly sunny weather for Christmas Day.

WICHITA
Blizzard Watch late tonight through Friday morning. The precipitation will not change over to all winter stuff until tonight. Gusts around 35 mph after midnight. Thursday will have snow, blowing snow, with additional accumulation of 1 to 2 inches and gusts to around 50 mph and highs in the 20s. Snow continues Thursday night, but decreasing on Christmas Day.

NEW YORK CITY (THE BIG APPLE)
They had their share in the last storm over the weekend. They will miss the real bad weather with this new storm. Look for mostly sunny weather Thursday. Christmas Day will be mostly cloudy with a chance of rain by afternoon and highs around 40.

WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE
Pretty much the same as New York City, although they will have a mix of freezing rain and rain Christmas morning changing over to rain Friday night and Saturday.

SPOT REPORTS
These observations were taken at 10:00 this morning CST.

Flagstaff, Arizona…28, partly sunny
Phoenix…44, mostly sunny
Grand Canyon Airport…23, mostly sunny
Dallas…66, cloudy
Pampa, Texas…30, mix of wintry precipitation (in the Texas Panhandle)
Aspen, Colorado…25, snow
Denver…23, snow, wind chill 17
Colorado Springs…26, snow, visibility 3/4 of a mile
Kansas City…40, dense fog
St. Louis…46, rain
Lincoln, Nebraska…32, freezing rain
Des Moines…32, freezing rain, cold north wind

USA EXTREMES
Warmest Tuesday 80 in Brooks County, Texas.
Coldest this morning 10 below zero at Doe Lake, Michigan. (Never seen a report from there before.)
Coldest in Alaska was 24 below at Ft. Yukon.

As time permits, we will try to update this again early tomorrow.

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