The brown area has a significant risk of tornadoes in the morning and early afternoon. Please keep up on the latest weather information in this area!

The area in brown has a significant risk of tornadoes today and tonight. Please monitor local forecasts and warnings. 

Fog in the San Joaquin Valley and some snow in the New Mexico mountains and that's it!

Some members of the mainstream media (MSM) have been working overtime trying to blame the extremely cold winter east of the Mississippi River and in other parts of the world is due to a "collapsed" jet stream and polar vortex due to global warming.  Two of many  incorrect reports about this winter's cold All this started when a Rutgers' researcher, Dr. Jennifer Frances, gathered data from a far-too-short period of time (~25 years) that omitted even the 1970's when -- as we old meteorologists well remembered -- the jet stream was extremely wavy. This resulted in a heavily biased paper that appeared to tie the jet stream to cold winters due to recent levels of CO2 concentration. I attended her presentation at an American Meteorological Society meeting in Nashville in 2013 (much of her presentation was editorial cartoons mocking people who didn't think global warming was the end of the world, indicating a high level of personal editorial bias).  Sure enough, subs...

The problem with this theory is that if you flood the market with gold, the price would drop correspondingly -- to maybe a $1/once.  That said, mining asteroids is a great idea for rare minerals!

 

This is a pretty clever idea. Click here for details. 

We've heard a lot about the electric crisis in Nashville. But there are still ~25,000 people without power two weeks after the storm in northern Mississippi! The worst is in Lafayette County (in the center of the outages) with about 5,000 people without power.  In Tennessee, all but about 400 people have their power back on. 

Wind and solar work okay on a sunny, 75° spring day with a breeze. But they fail when needed the most as this latest storm again demonstrates. 

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Badly needed rain forecast for the Ozarks and Mid South. California and West get moisture, as well. 

Now that they have merged with Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines has a new livery (paint scheme) that is just beautiful.  Congratulations. 

Today is National Meteorologists Day. To all of my colleagues around the nation: best wishes, good health and keep up the great work that saves lives and makes our nation better. 

Australia's Jo Nova has an i nsightful article regarding energy investment here. It applies to the United States. 

For the first time in the history of the Nation of Cuba: Yes, it got to freezing (zero degrees Celsius) for the first time. Cuba has always had an excellent meteorological service, so I trust this.  While on the subject of winter: The North American Reliability Corporation's latest long-term assessment warns that half the U.S. will face increased risks of blackouts during winter storms as demand for electricity increases while coal- and natural gas-fired power plants are retired. Details here . No one wants another Nashville!

Seven percent! The idea that the grid can run on renewables for any length of time is nonsense. 

Ottawa Herald Kansas City-area musician Doug Nelson has written and recorded a song about the hero of the Ruskin Heights Tornado, Joe Audsley. Joe broke the 1957 Weather Bureau's rules that forbad tornado warnings. While he thought he would be fired the next day, his warnings saved dozens of lives.  So give Doug's song a listen!

Radar as of 2:22pm: Below is the additional  snow forecast.

Remember to keep the above clear of snow while -- if you use a portable generator -- keeping it away from air intakes. 

Because of the controversy pertaining to the forecasts of last weekend's storm, we are going to review our performance with links so you can judge for yourself.  The amount of controversy churning in mainstream media as well as social media regarding the forecasts of last weekend's winter storm continues. This is especially the case as a new, and major, winter storm is in its early stages for the Carolinas and surrounding region. The gist of the criticism is that irresponsible forecasters are making it difficult for the public to distinguish between legitimate storm warnings and hype. I agree that can be a problem.  The stories out of Nashville and other more rural areas through Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, which are still suffering from last weekend's ice storm are tragic and heartbreaking. The death toll from this storm is now in the vicinity of 150 with a surprising number of people having frozen to death even in places like New York City.  Hype-Free Forecast...

Courtesy of my friends at AccuWeather, here is the latest forecast for snow amounts.  This is going to produce record snow amounts in places and will cripple transportation in the region. There will be isolated power outages.  Here is a summary of National Weather Service winter weather warnings. Pink = winter storm warning. Purple = winter weather advisory.  Dark turquoise = winter storm watch.  Please remember I provide updates on Twitter/X   @usweatherexpert . 

Here is video of a tree exploding (due to sap freezing and expanding) from earlier this week.

This evening in the one-year anniversary of the horrible mid-air crash in Washington, D.C. The National Transportation Safety Board announced it has concluded its investigation into the mid-air collision of a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Wichita to Washington's Reagan Airport. Sixty-seven people lost their lives. It was the first mid-air collision in the United States involving a commercial airliner since 1960. There is more on the crash here .  U.S. Figure Skating With the Olympics beginning in a week, it is worth noting that a number of members of the U.S. Skating Team were on board after their yearly competition, which was held in Wichita. According to media reports, 28 people associated with U.S. skating were killed in the crash.  A prayer vigil was held in Wichita today and the Diocese of Washington held a special Mass for the victims and their families. The City of Alexandria announced today that it is going to build a memorial on the bank ...

This forecast has been updated. New forecast of here .  Earlier in the week there was a great of concern in the news media and social media about a major blizzard on the East Coast this weekend. Of course, we were cautioning that it was too soon to make that type of forecast and that the more accurate computer models were not  showing a blizzard.  Now, it seems pretty clear that no major coastal blizzard will occur.  However,  there will be a winter storm from Georgia to Virginia. Pink is a winter storm warning, purple is a winter weather advisory (a lesser condition) and the dark blue is a winter storm watch. The watch includes Atlanta (right on the edge) as well as Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond and Columbia. Given the issues with the airline system from the weekend storm, I would -- strongly -- recommend getting on the phone with your airline if you are supposed to change planes at the Atlanta or Charlotte hubs and route around the storm. For example, if you ar...

Wichita Eagle Phil Ruffin is the epitome of the American Dream.  As a native Wichitan who splits his time between Vegas and Wichita, the Wichita Eagle  has a fascinating interview with Phil. You will find it here .  Phil Ruffin is President Donald Trump's best friend. They've had a close relationship for years.  I especially found Phil's concerns about the middle class important and worthy of serious consideration. We conservatives need to stop the crony capitalism, the fraud, and the waste and get back to fixing The American Dream.  In addition to owning the Wichita Hyatt Regency and Wichita Marriott Hotels, he is far better known for owning Circus Circus in Vegas and half of the Trump Hotel in Vegas as well as numerous other investments high profile investments. Phil is the epitome of the "self made man." Phil visiting with my bosses Barry (left) and Joel Myers during the AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions' open house when we moved to a much larger facility in...

David's description is literally correct.  More than 1,000  private jets carried people to the event last year. 

I believe a lot of people have an unrealistic view of what needs to be done to recover from a major ice storm. Comments like these are common on social media today. Unfortunately, this comment reveals a lack of understanding as to what has to happen to get power back up and running. If media reports are correct, more than 200 power poles in Nashville were snapped. It takes a considerable amount of time to get each of them replaced. There is also damage to the high voltage transmission lines. Can you imagine having a job where you have to sit on the skid of a helicopter in freezing weather to make repairs?! The linemen are heroes!! Given that hundreds  of extra crews and utility trucks were brought in ahead of the storm (based on the weather forecasts of a major ice storm), I'm not sure what Robby would have done differently. Which brings us to personal responsibility.  Starting the morning of the 22nd, and continuing through the weekend, you saw this and ever more dire warning...

If it were me, I'd have a winter storm watch in effect in North Carolina, southern Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Tennessee and adjacent parts of Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia.  As to the weekend storm... Here is the statistical presentation of the chances of 4" or more of snow this weekend:  Please note the relatively probabilities over North Carolina and nearby areas.  It is hard to see but there is a small 70% area in eastern Massachusetts. 

Please let me add my thanks for all of the people who have worked tirelessly -- including meteorologists -- to forecast and recover from the just-ended storm. News reports say 30 people have been killed. While that is a terrible tragedy to their friends and loved ones, storms of this nature used to kill as many as 500 . Timely, accurate forecasts make a huge difference.  Associated Press photo of ice storm damage in Nashville  Consider how linemen from around the nation were pre-positioned to quickly restore power in the areas that have been devastated by the ice storm. Even with that head start, there are, nationally, still about 1,200,000 people without power. The worst-off states are below. Northern Mississippi looks like a war zone. That is where the greatest amount of freezing rain fell. The extreme problems extend from there northeast to Nashville. Below is the current headline from the Nashville newspaper. Please note the comment about carbon monoxide. The 230,000 = cus...