The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

It was an active day across the eastern US on Sunday, with wide spread snow falling over the Great Lakes and Ohio valley and extending eastward into the Northeast and New England. Areas that saw the most persistent lake-effect snow bands saw them come off of Lake Michigan and into western and northwestern Michigan, and also off of Lake Erie through northeastern Ohio. Through the day, the low pressure system that brought the snow to the Great Lakes expanded eastward to bring moderate to heavy snow across eastern New York and through a large chunk of New England. Areas of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine as well as portions of Massachusetts saw heavy snow. Much of Massachusetts mixed with rain and snow at times, yet mostly snow occurred over western parts of the state as Berkshire County piled up more than 7 inches of snow. Preliminary snow amounts across New York show areas of Hamilton, Warren and Washington getting as much as 7 to 9 inches of snow. The heaviest snow winded down over Vermont and New Hampshire prior to midnight yet continued to pound Maine into the early morning hours of Monday. Several counties through these areas have reported upwards of 10 inches of snow so far.

It was a wet day out west as a low pressure system brought virtually non-stop periods of rain mainly to the northern two-thirds of California northward into Oregon and Washington. The heaviest rain fell across northern California, and Crescent City reported more than two inches of rain today. A few light bands of rain and elevation-dependent snow pushed over the Sierras and into Nevada. Showers and mixed precipitation also occurred over central to eastern areas of Washington and Oregon and into Idaho late in the day. Snow levels have been around 7000 feet for much of the day over the Sierras, and around 5500 feet over the Cascades.

WEATHER EXTREMES SO FAR TODAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............83 Nogales, AZ

.............................................. Tucson AZ

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..............82 Fort Lauderdale, FL

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............-12 Wahpeton, ND

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............-31 Devils Lake, ND

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................47 Marion, VA

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............1.75 Santa Rosa, CA

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1802, a snowstorm along the New England coast produced 48 inches of snow north of Boston and wrecked three large ships from Salem along Cape Cod.

In 1936, a severe blizzard in the Sierra Nevada Range closed Donner Pass, stranded 750 motorists and claimed seven lives.

In 1989, 19 cities in the central US reported new record low temperatures for the date, including Lincoln, Nebraska, with a reading of 19 degrees below zero.

DTN-Meteorlogix/J Rossow

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.