East Shivers, Awaiting Winter Storm

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East Shivers, Awaiting Winter Storm
January 23, 2004

As eastern residents continued to face
a relentless cold spell that is
approaching 3 weeks long, all eyes
were toward to the west as a winter
storm began to evolve.

While the current cold spell is not as
bitter as the air mass that swept into the
northeast last week, temperatures were
still well below normal early Friday.
Readings in the single digits were
recorded as far south as northern
Kentucky, southwest Virginia, western
Maryland and southeast Pennsylvania,
including some Philadelphia suburbs.

A WeatherBug live sensor in Lampeter
in southeast Pennslvania recorded a
temperature of 8 degrees, some 20
degrees cooler than readings seen
early Thursday.

Lake effect snow continued across
parts of western New York with much
weaker areas of snow showers across
the upper peninsula and northwest
lower peninsula of Michigan early
Friday. Fulton, New York east of Lake
Ontario reported a storm total of 33".
Further west across the Plains, mild
southwest winds ahead of another fastmoving
"Alberta Clipper" contributed to
a relatively balmy night.

A WeatherBug live sensor in Dakota
Dunes in eastern South Dakota
reported a temperature of 34 degrees
early Friday, a far cry from Thursday`s
reading of 2 degrees at the same time.
This fast-moving Alberta Clipper will
drop into the upper Mississippi Valley
today and then race toward the mid-
Atlantic coast by tonight. A swath of
light snow will fall just north of its track
with 2-5" possible in a narrow swath.

Winter weather advisories have been
issued from parts of the southern Great
Lakes into the eastern Ohio Valley and
central Appalachians.

The Alberta Clipper will send a
reinforcing surge of cold air from the
Great Lakes and Ohio Valley and into
the northeast and mid-Atlantic, setting
the stage for a larger winter storm
Saturday night into Sunday.

This weekend winter storm was sitting
over the desert southwest early Friday.
It will finally begin to push eastward
later in the day and will head into the
southern Plains on Saturday, picking up
considerable Gulf moisture.

As the moisture runs into cold air in
place over parts of the Ohio Valley,
interior Carolinas and mid-Atlantic, a
large area of snow, freezing rain and
sleet is expected to develop.