Weather Report 12/8/13

This last week was a rather interesting one in the world of weather.  As anticipated, a large part of the country was plunged into arctic cold weather and a couple of strong winter systems affected much of the nation.  40 below zero temperatures and 40 inches of snow were seen at various places across the northern states.  The south did not escape the grip of early winter either as a fairly strong and early winter system dumped as much as a foot of snow  across areas of the lower Mississippi and Ohio valleys.    Other areas got heavy ice that brought down trees and power lines leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark.    People were well forewarned and appeared quite prepared overall.

This video was taken in the bootheel of Missouri.

This was in Fayetteville AR.

This week is starting off with another storm system moving across the country.  This one is not so strong though, but will bring a full complement of weather  From rains in the deep South and  southeast , some icing/mixed precip along the Ohio valley and an area of light snows that will add up to about 6 inches in some areas, just a couple in others  from the plains into the great lakes.   After this system pulls through, the arctic air will begin a slight retreat and more seasonable temps will likely be returning to many areas by the end of the week.  There could be a small system affecting    the great lakes to the south towards the end of the week, but nothing spectacular is showing up at the time I am writing this.  The Northwest will also have some stormy weather by weeks end.   Overall this next week will be much quieter and closer to normal than the previous one. 

Here are some interesting historical weather facts for the first week of December.

1998: Strong storms spread 60 mph winds throughout northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio

1981: Boston, Massachusetts, received 18 inches of snow

1972: The temperature dropped from 52 degrees F to 18 degrees F in 20 minutes, Livingston, Montana

2009: Providence, Rhode Island, had a record high of 66 degrees F

1950: A late-season tornado killed four people in Illinois

1896: The temperature at Kipp, Montana, rose 80 degrees over the course of the day

1964: A Midwest cold wave brought a temperature of 17 degrees below zero F to Minneapolis