Mega-monster Storm Smacks Minneapolis and Large Parts of the Central and Eastern U.S

I recognized last weekend that the Midwest and other parts of the Central and Eastern U.S. were in for a mega-monster storm this Christmas week. In fact, I told my wife that The Weather Channel had misnamed the so-called "blizzard" that struck the mid-Atlantic and southern New England regions at the time. That was not to be the "Blizzard of 2009." Rather this storm event would earn that title!

And the weather satellite image on the morning of December 24, 2009 put the entire storm event into a perspective I've never quite considered before.

Let's digress for a few moments and return to the mythological days of Hercules in which he battled the dreaded Hydra, a nine-headed monster that grew two new heads every time one was cut off.

This morning's water vapor (one type of infrared) satellite image showed two storm systems affecting the central U.S. - a weaker system in the vicinity of Minnesota and much stronger system in Texas (Figure 1). When viewed in its entirety, instead, one might see the monstrous creature with its open mouth facing to the left near the Canadian border and the rest of the monster coiled or standing on two legs, waiting to strike, over Texas. Of course, some of you might see an evil-looking face looking to the right over Oklahoma and north Texas. Whatever you see, or think you see, it's okay. You are NOT certifiably insane!

But, given its size and its current and projected impact, this storm could be every bit as dangerous as the mythological Hydra. Blizzard warnings were in effect for portions of the Dakotas and Oklahoma; winter storm warnings were posted for much of the remainder of the central U.S., flash flood warnings were on tap in southeast Missouri; tornadoes were possible in Alabama and Mississippi; and ice is expected to coat portions of southwestern Virginia northeastward to Pennsylvania.

There's more and you can see this via the multi-colored NOAA watch-warning map shown here (Figure 2). There is an incredible potpourri of hazardous weather underway or expected in the next 36 hours. And conditions expected past Christmas Day are not even shown on this map!

The other aspect of the storm system is that, much like the Hydra, it won't go away. The storm's center is expected to relocate to Iowa tonight and then hang around there for several days before slinking into Canada over the weekend. But the reach of the storm will extend from the western High Plains to New England and from Canada (actually places within Canada) to the Gulf Coast. That's fully two thirds of the contiguous U.S.

Within the scope of this predicted event, it's a safe bet that weather records will be shattered. Minneapolis may get a snowfall event that reaches to number two on its snowiest events scale (Figure 3); five inches had already fallen by early afternoon on December 24th. It's already snowed in Dallas and Waco, TX. And the Washington, DC area northeastward to Philadelphia, PA may get heavy rainfall atop of deep, moisture-laden snowpack. That will almost certainly lead to flooding.

So, the stage is set. If you are almost any place in the U.S. east of the Rockies or in central and eastern Canada, you should already be atop this developing weather event. Given that much of the worst weather will occur on Christmas Day, and then last into Saturday, expect road clearing to be slow, airports shut down and people simply marooned.

If you haven't done so yet, and roads are clear enough, you may want to head out and gas the car; get some TP, milk, eggs and bread; and pick up some hot chocolate. If you are marooned, you may as well have a stocked pantry and enjoy something warm and tasty!

I will be posting an update on this event during Christmas Day from my perch in southwest Florida...where we are not expecting any snow either today or tomorrow.