The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

Across the east, a warm spring-like system brought moderate rain with some embedded thunderstorms to the lower Great lakes region. Areas from Chicago through northern Indiana and across northern Ohio and Pennsylvania picked up near an inch of rain Tuesday with rain still falling into the overnight hours. South of this system, it felt like late May with highs in the 70s and 80s from the Gulf Coast through the Ohio Valley. Over 20 record highs were recorded for the day with some notables including: Indianapolis, IN (74); Cincinnati, OH (77); Columbus, OH (79); Jackson, KY (77); Nashville, TN (80); Alexandria, LA (83); and Vicksburg, MS (84).

A strong winter storm blasted the Upper Midwest with low pressure moving across Wisconsin and into Upper Michigan and wrapping heavy snow and strong winds from the Dakotas into Minnesota. Over 8 inches of snow was reported in portions of west central and northern Minnesota. Cold northwest winds of 25-35 mph with gusts to 50 mph were continuing to bring blizzard conditions to much the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota with near white out conditions. Temperatures dropped quickly through the afternoon and evening hours through South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa as strong cold front moved through. Cold was already in place throughout North Dakota with most of the state failing to rise above zero for highs today resulting in temperatures of 30-40 degrees below normal. Strong winds will produce dangerous wind chills across these areas through the first part of today.

The western part of the country was much quieter on Tuesday although light snow did produce a few inches in areas from northern Idaho into Montana and western Wyoming during the day. This snow was beginning to dissipate by days end as an Arctic high was building in. This high brought unseasonably cold weather to much of the northern Rockies and Montana with highs below zero near the Canadian border. Snow dissipated across the Colorado Rockies by midday and dry weather extended throughout the southwest states. Temperatures were below normal across much of the west coast and record lows were reported in several cities including: Lancaster, CA (24); Palmdale, CA (26); Monterey, CA (36); Spokane, WA (5); and Cedar City, UT (4)

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............92 Alice, TX

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..............93 Laredo, TX

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............-21 Scobey, MT

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............-38 Devils Lake, ND

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................67 Estherville, IA

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............1.08 Fort Wayne, IN

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1923, small towns of Deanburg and Pinson, Tennessee were struck by a F5 tornado. The tornado wiped out a quarter of Pinson, killing 20 people.

In 1948, Arctic cold spread over the Plains and Midwest setting monthly record lows in Kansas at Healy, Oberlin and Quinter at -25. Other record March lows for Kansas were Dodge City at -11 and Concordia and Wichita at -3.

In 1992, a very strong March storm across the Northeast brought heavy snow to western Pennsylvania and New York with 15 inches in Buffalo, 22 inches in Rochester and 23 inches in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Heavy rains combined with snow melt to produce ice jams on the warm side of the storm with severe flooding over portions of Vermont.

DTN-Meteorlogix

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