The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

Across the east, low pressure developed over the northeast Gulf Monday and advanced across FL bringing showers and thunderstorms to the area. Stronger storms with periods of heavy rain fell across southern FL, including the FL Keys where a squall line of storms brought severe winds to the area of up to 60 mph. Some moderate rains also fell over much of AL and eastern TN during the day with a half inch or more in areas. Light snow developed over the southern Appalachians Monday with a couple inches reported in areas. Light snow pushed east into from south central VA through the DC area and Philadelphia where it was expected to continue into the overnight. More snow will fall today from eastern PA through NYC and southern New England.

In the central US, arctic air has returned to the Upper Midwest where temperatures fell to well below normal from ND through northern WI.

Many areas across ND and northwest MN failed to rise above zero during the afternoon. Northwest winds with gusts of 20-30 mph accompanied the cold and forced wind chill advisories through this morning from the eastern Dakotas to northern WI and northern IA. Low pressure tracked slowly across northern MI bringing snow showers to the region. Lake effect snows over Upper MI produced heavy snow in areas including 18 inches at Houghton and an incredible 2 feet for Hancock, MI.

In the west, a few rain and snow showers drifted through MT but it was dry elsewhere with high pressure building across the Rockies. It was windy across much of MT and WY where gusts of 45-55 mph were common during the day. Sunshine helped bring in above normal temperatures to the west coast with highs in the lower 80s over portions of southern CA with lower 60s as far north as northern OR.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............85 Temecula, CA

............................................ Santa Ana, CA

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..............83 Santa Ana, CA

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............-17 Devils Lake, ND

........................................... Garrison, ND

........................................... Hampden, ND

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............-40 Devils Lake, ND

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................60 Marathon, FL

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............0.78 Birmingham, AL

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1961, the third major winter storm of the season hits the northeast resulting in 73 deaths. One to three feet of snow fell from PA to New England including local amounts of 22.6 inches in Newark, NJ and 22 inches at JFK.

In 1986, a prolonged 5-day storm of freezing drizzle and fog from the 1st to the 5th left many without power in central ND as ice accumulated to a thickness of 5-8 inches. Millions of trees felled across MN and WI due to weight of ice.

In 1996, severe arctic cold across Midwest results in Iowa's lowest temperature ever at Elkader (-47) with Des Moines shattering a record for consecutive hours below zero at 132 hours. Illinois ties its coldest temperature ever at Elizabeth (-35) and Milwaukee, WI ties its all time record low for February at -26.

Filed by: DTN-Meteorlogix

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