OK, it’s the relative calm before the storm. We are watching some rain in the SE right now, and some snow in the Upper MW. Today will be the best day to travel over the next four or five. Here is what is shaping up for the week:

A big round of energy is rounding a trough in CA. This will link up with a strong jet stream overhead in the SW, connect with some moisture over the South, and start blasting everybody with freezing rain, sleet, and snow from NM to Boston. At the height of the storm (Tuesday night to Wednesday), the winds will blow around 50 mph in IL and IN. There’s a blizzard watch for northern IL, including Chicago for that time period. Totals for Chicago look to be around a foot and a half of snow. Note here: the record snow fall for the city is 23.0 inches on Jan 26-27, 1967.

The exact path and evolution of the storm seems to be coming together, and the general trend looks like this: sleet, freezing rain starting in the SW today, with some snow in the upper MW. Places like KC and St. Louis transition into snow (about a foot and a half total) tonight and that moves to the NE by Wednesday. Watches and warnings are up for so many states I don’t even want to mention them here, but take a look for yourself on the map! I havn’t seen a storm like this for the MW in a few years. A 10” snow for Chicago occurs about once every three years, a 15” about once every 19 years. We’ll see how bad they get the boot. Good luck everybody! I’ll update the air travel forecast too, but some airlines are already working to re-schedule Chicago bound flights.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Blizzard • Freezing rain • Rain • Severe Weather • Snow • Weather • Winter Storm Warning • Winter Weather Advisory

It’s been crazier than an Andy Dick Tuesday night in the weather department these last few days. Huge amounts of snow, wind, storms, but things have changed.

The Wednesday snow across the East is long gone, and now we are dealing with two clippers from Canada. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ‘Great White North’ and all the stuff they send to the U.S., but the nuisance snow they can keep. Clippers give us that quick-hitting snow. They are fast-moving storms that zip out of Alberta, slide over the MW, and exit or fall apart over the NE. Since they originate over Canada’s prairies, they don’t have much moisture. They move fast so the snow doesn’t last long either. Usually we’ll squeeze out 2-5” of snow from them, and that’s what I expect over the next 2 days.

The first one is over Lake Huron now, but the snow is rocketing through WV, VA, MD, PA, and KY. I expect the light stuff to reach Philly and NYC this afternoon, so a few short delays will pop up.

The second one is still in Saskatchewan, but the snow will reach Detroit by tonight. It’s already falling in MN/ND. I’ll show you the radar.

More rain is headed towards the NW today, and a new storm hits northern CA on Sunday morning bringing rain to the coast.

The southern half of the nation looks great, with no travel-related weather problems.

All right, enough science for one morning. I’ll see you out there.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Rain • Snow • Weather

Tickets are on sale now for a very special concert featuring our very own Robin Meade. She's the featured vocalist in Jim Brickman's show at the Eisenhower Hall Theater in West Point, NY on Saturday Feb. 5th. Jim and Robin will perform hits like "Valentine," "The Gift," "Never Alone," & "The Simple Things."

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Filed under: Extras • Jim Brickman • Robin Meade • Welcome Home

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Filed under: Live Better Now

Here we go, mopping up from another winter storm smack-down. Some snow totals I have found from the NE:

Central Park, NYC: 15.3”

Newark Airport, NJ: 14.2” (it’s closed until 1 pm Thursday)

La Guardia Airport, Queens: 12.6” (it’s closed until 8 am Thursday)

South Boston: 11.5”

Greenwich, CT: 10.0”

Downingtown, PA: 16.0”

Hanover, NJ: 13.0”

Allentown, PA: 11.3”

Philadelphia Int’l Airport: 14.9”

Parts of Delaware got slammed with over a foot of snow, the DC area received about 9” in some spots, and it’s still rocking in ME. The warnings for the nor’easter are about to expire for most of New England, but the wind and blowing snow will still be around. Travel will be a nightmare, and NYC has cancelled school. I’ll show you the location of the storm as it heads into the North Atlantic.

Another clipper is zooming out of the Upper MW this morning spreading snow to the MD. I think Chicago will get around 1-3” of snow today.

Behind that, there isn’t much to report on. The weather is quiet for just about everybody in the South, Rockies, and West. If it wasn’t for the NE/Mid Atlantic clean up, this would be a swell late January day.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

The winter weather conga line continues to train across the country today. The pattern seems to be a 'pop pop pop BAM!' Light snow, a few weak impulses, and the a big one hits, like this morning.

I’m watching a storm pull off the NC coast this morning spreading rain and snow up to the NE. The trailing upper-level storm, a cold pocket of spinning air really, is lagging behind over TN and AL. The snow is starting to get heavy, and it’s pushing to the OH valley. I think the major cities along the east coast see rain and sleet/snow mixed today, with a change over to all snow this evening and tonight. DC should get 2-4”, Baltimore about 3-6”, Philly and NYC about 4-8”, and Boston 5-10” tonight. I’ll show you all the warnings for the winter stuff.

FL is recovering from damaging winds yesterday, and the rain and storms are still hanging around the southern part of the state. I’ll have the radar.

Just a quick note here, since it’s a busy day, but the rest of the country is storm-free and quiet. Traveling to the East half of the nation will be awful today, so that is the main story here. See ya out there.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Rain • Snow • Weather • Winter Storm Warning

Heavy rain changing to snow, that’s the big weather picture today. I’m watching a powerful storm develop along the gulf coast, and the rain is fanning out across the SE. FL needs it badly to battle the drought, but I think severe storms head into the Sunshine State this afternoon. Heads up for damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes. The cold part of the storm is over TX right now, and that will edge eastward. As it phases with the rain in place, it will crank over to snow tonight in western TN, MS, AL and the Mid Atlantic mountains. There are winter storm warnings for the region, I’ll show you where. I think Memphis will see a half foot of snow tonight.

It’s mostly rain for Atlanta, and hopefully it will wash away the 4” of sand on the roads here. Seriously, it looks like the moon landing out on the streets with the sandy footprints.

The whole storm moves to the NE tomorrow, and heavy snow is possible for PA, NJ, all the way up to ME. There are watches out, and I’ll have that.

The rest of the country looks quiet. I have to run, but that is a brief look at the weather picture.

Later!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

“Let’s get Bob!” “Let me guess…you’re off those days, right?” and “Blank You!!!”

Those were some of the replies I received after sending my daily weather briefing email to the team this morning. All I did was suggest we may have to stay in a hotel again early next week with the possibility of winter weather heading into our area, and the profanity ensued. Oh well... the perils of a meteorologist. Fugheddaboutit.

There is a slamming coastal storm this morning off of NJ that is steaming to the NE coast. Heavy snow is showing up from NJ to ME right now, and I think a foot or more is possible in some regions. I’ll have the forecast and a look at this beast. It comes on a Friday, so air travel will really be a drag up there. Lots of delays, and I’ll update you on the latest.

Behind the snow and wind in the NE lies the coldest air of the season. The current temperature, without the wind, is -42 F in International Falls, MN. Frost bite time is less than 5 minutes at that temperature! There are wind chill advisories and extreme cold warnings (something I haven’t seen in a long time) for the Upper MW and Great Lakes. We’ll take a look at the numbers.

More rain is moving into the NW with flood concerns around Seattle. It ends this afternoon, and the weekend finally looks dry.

Let me strap on my Kevlar vest and head down to the set and do this thing. People wonder why we hit the gym almost everyday… it’s so I can protect myself from the angry mob of folks that don’t care for the bad weather news!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: extreme cold warning • Flood • Snow • Weather

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Filed under: Kristin McGee • Live Better Now

Two major things going on this morning with the weather, one being the winter storm rolling through the Plains and MW, and the arctic air spreading through the upper MW/Great Lakes. There are advisories and warnings out for both.

Starting with the snow: right now it’s stretching from NM to OH, with winter storm warnings/advisories all along the way. I’m looking at around 3-6”snow for Tulsa, St. Louis, all the way to Cincinnati today. The snow continues tonight into the NE as the storm plows ahead under a fast-moving jet stream, making it to Philly and NYC tonight. 3-5” for both cities. The track takes it off the coast of Cape Cod, and tightens into a big wind/snow maker for the New England coast tomorrow. Me could see 6-10” along with strong wind. I’m watching the models early this morning, and the path looks like a typical tee box shot of mine in golf: it goes straight, then hooks big time into the woods of the NE. I’ll have the forecast on the show.

The other story is the massive arctic air jailbreak. This is on the heels of the storm, and the wind chills in Chicago will reach -20 F today. It’ll feel like -40 for a few hours in the Upper MW, Lakes, so advisories are out. I’ll have that too. (What is the only temperature number that C and F are the same value? Answer below)

More rain is into the NW today, and that means trouble for WA and OR. I think 1-1.5” rain for the coast, so more flooding.

Southern CA will see the winds howl for the first part of the day in the mountains, with 60 mph gusts. Warnings are posted. With that off-shore wind, Los Angeles’ temps will approach 80 again this afternoon.

(Answer: -40°)

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather