Snow Totals.

So, how much snow did we get across the state from last night and early this morning? Depends on where you lived obviously, but the maps on the right courtesy of the respective NWS offices give a general idea. The highest report I have seen from this side of the state was 3" in Shidler, so the snowfall totals fell pretty much in line with the forecast. Quite frankly though, I am still surprised at how much snow managed to make it to the ground given the environment we were dealing with. Strong southerly winds in this part of the country just does not add up to a wintry weather event except in very rare instances; and obviously this was one of them. Best anyone can recall is one other time in the last 20+ years in which we received measurable snowfall and had a south wind, and that event did not have winds nearly as strong as we had this time around.

Those gusty southerly winds will continue through this evening and although any measurable precipitation has pretty much moved out of the state, there may be some patches of drizzle going into the evening hours. Temperatures will hold pretty steady in the low-mid 30s through the evening hours but dropping below freezing to start the day Tuesday. Our skies should also be clearing from west to east by early morning and with light winds there may be some icy patches with any residual moisture on bridges and overpasses first thing in the morning.

After that, light southerly winds and lots of sunshine should result in a very nice Valentine's Day with afternoon temperatures rebounding into the upper 40s to near 50. Another fast moving storm system will be crossing the state on Wednesday with cloudy skies, gusty southerly winds, very mild temperatures, and a good chance of rain; possibly even some thunder.

That will be followed by northerly winds, partly cloudy skies, and a bit of a cool down for Thursday. Another weak boundary looks to be moving across the state Friday night, but right now it does not appear to amount to much more than a wind shift. Thus, the coming weekend looks promising; it will certainly be much warmer than this past weekend.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot