NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

 

OCTOBER 2009

 

1^st-10^th…A major low pressure system tracked through the Upper Midwest and into the Great Lakes on Friday. The associated cold front was draped from the central Gulf Coast through the Ohio Valley. Along the southern end of the front, morning rain and strong thunderstorms moved through the Southeast. As the front moved eastward, this precipitation waned as its main moisture source was cut off. The northern end of the front ushered moderate precipitation into the Ohio Valley and western New England.

The first major snow storm hit the Rockies on Monday. A strong low pressure system developed over the Intermountain West created a cold front that kicked up wintry weather over the Western US. This system pushed moisture well inland as it moved eastward overnight and triggered 2-4 feet on the north facing slopes of the Montana, with lighter accumulation, between 1-2 inches over most of the Northern and Central Rockies, with periods of heavy snowfall reported. A winter storm warning has been issued over the region, as Billings, Montana reported 4 inches of snow on Monday.

 

11^th-17^th…Wet and unsettling weather activity persisted throughout the southeastern quadrant of the nation on Monday. Numerous showers, thunderstorms, locally heavy rainfall, and strong to damaging winds developed from southeastern Texas to the Mid-Atlantic Coast as a trough of low pressure dipped across the Tennessee Valley and the Appalachians and a frontal boundary remained draped across the Central Gulf Coast. Abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and daytime heating heightened instability and weather activity intensity in the Southeast during the afternoon. Heavy concentrations of precipitation created risks of flash flooding, while strong thunderstorms created a chance for occasional cloud to ground lightning strikes.

Parts North And West Of NYC Hit With Pre-Halloween Surprise on Thursday. It's the middle of October. We're less than a month into fall, so dig out those hats, scarves, and … snow shovels? The tri-state was walloped by its first nor'easter of the season on Thursday, and some parts of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut saw heavy snow showers fall throughout the day and night. The elevation in Vernon is about 550 feet, but CBS 2 drove to some higher elevations within the town and found snow sticking to cars, trees, roofs, and the grass. "It's a little early, it's natural up here though," said Vernon resident Jack Valenti. "It's higher elevation up here. I talked to my brother back at home in Bergen County and it's raining down there, so, yeah, it's crazy." In Sparta, NJ, several inches of snow blanketed the ground, enough to make a snowman that CBS 2's Jay Dow posed with during CBS 2 News This Morning.

Sullivan County in northern New York was under a Winter Storm Watch and could see between 2 and 4 inches of snow by the time the storm exits. Dutchess and Ulster counties were under a Winter Storm Advisory and could produce 1 to 3 inches of snow when all is said and done.

 

18^th-24^th…Widespread clouds engulfed New Mexico and Colorado as an energetic low pressure system moved through northern New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma on Wednesday. Strong flow associated with this system spread into Colorado and produced a swath of light to moderate mixed precipitation in eastern Colorado. Heavy snowfall blanketed the Sangre De Cristo Mountains and the southern I-25 corridor from south of Colorado City to the the New Mexico Border. Gusty, northeast wind accompanied heavy snowfall, creating blowing and drifting snow with lowered visibilities. As the aforementioned system trekked toward southwestern Kansas, light to moderate, widespread showers and isolated thunderstorms developed in northern Texas, western and central Oklahoma, and Kansas. Persistent rainfall threatened these areas with localized flooding through the afternoon.

 

25^th-31^st…A cold front continued tracking eastward through the country on Monday and allowed for heavy rains over the South. A low pressure system that developed over the Rockies and moved into the Great Lakes, while flow around this system created a frontal boundary that extended down the Mississippi Valley and into the Southern Plains. This forced ample moisture to pour in from the Gulf of Mexico, and allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop over eastern Texas and Oklahoma as well as the Lower Mississippi Valley. In Lufkin, Texas, 2.02 inches of rain was reported and highs over the region only reached into the upper 50s and lower 60s. Some of these storms turned severe with strong wind gusts up to 81 mph reported in Christi, Texas. Lighter showers stretched toward the Great Lakes, with less than a tenth of an inch reported in most areas. However, heavy rains in the South have allowed for severe flooding problems over the Lower Mississippi region. To the West, a trough of low pressure pushed over the Pacific Northwest and brought scattered showers with snow at higher elevations. A half of an inch of rain was reported at Locks, Oregon as up to 3 inches of snow fell over the Cascades and Northern Rockies.

A storm that brought the first heavy snow of autumn to a large portion of the Rockies and western plains prompted officials to close schools in Wyoming on Wednesday and was blamed for dozens of accidents in the state and in neighboring Colorado. Up to 18 inches of snow was forecast in Denver and along the northern Colorado Front Range. As much as 4 feet was possible in the Colorado mountains. The National Weather Service predicted similar amounts for a wide area of the Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado plains. The storm also brought snow to northern Utah's Wasatch Front. Most of the roughly 70 accidents in Wyoming happened on Interstate 80 before the Wyoming Department of Transportation closed the highway between Cheyenne and Laramie early Wednesday. Nine crashes caused injuries but no one was killed. "People are just not slowing down enough," department spokesman Bruce Burrows said. In Denver, slick roads caused rush-hour fender-benders Wednesday morning. Schools in Colorado and Nebraska closed pre-emptively as the forecast called for heavy precipitation Wednesday and Thursday. A Colorado Springs homeless shelter has decided to allow people who have been kicked out for breaking rules to return because of the inclement weather. "When we start getting those wind gusts on Thursday — gusts up to 40 mph — it's going to create some blowing and drifting snow and that's going to cause some problems," said Dan Deal, with the weather service in Cheyenne. Drifts several feet deep and wind chills as low as 10 degrees were forecast. In Cheyenne, today's snow boosted totals to well over 20 inches of snow for the month, making it the snowiest October on record in the city, according to John Griffith, warning coordination meteorologist at the weather service in Cheyenne. Records go back to 1850.

The most notable storm that tracked through the country was a low pressure system that spilled out of the Rockies and into the Plains. This storm brought early season snowfall to the Central Rockies where many locations received over a foot of snow and some locations received nearly three feet of snow. This is a significant amount of snow for so early in the season. This storm was one of those interesting Fall storms that produced significant snow in the Rockies, while also instigating widespread rain and thunderstorms in the Plains and Mississippi Valley. Tornado Watches were in effect in the Lower Mississippi Valley due to the possibility that some of the thunderstorms could turn severe. Rain also spread into the Upper Midwest and Upper Mississippi Valley as the day progressed.

The storm that dropped a tremendous amount of early season snow on the Rockies on Wednesday and Thursday moved through the Plains on Friday. As it moved into the Upper Midwest, its associated cold front swept through the Mississippi Valley and instigated another round of tremendous precipitation. Moderate to heavy rain fell along the front from the Gulf Coast through the Upper Mississippi Valley. Some thunderstorms along the southern edge of the front were strong enough to allow Tornado Watches to be posted in parts of the Southeast. Flood Watches and Warnings were also posted from eastern Texas through the Upper Mississippi Valley due to the tremendous amount of rain that fell on the area. Snow showers did eventually stop in the Rockies, but cool air in the Rockies and Northern Plains dampened daytime high temperatures in the area. The storm also produced strong winds from the Northern Plains through the Appalachians.

 

 

Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.geocities.com/jimmunleywx