Weather

A warm-up underway on the central, southern Plains

Across the Corn Belt, chilly conditions linger in the wake of the recent winter storm and cold spell.  Tuesday’s high temperatures will remain below 32°F in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, although snow showers have largely subsided.  However, some Midwestern travel disruptions continue, both in rural areas and at major transportation hubs.

On the Plains, mild weather is replacing previously frigid conditions.  Tuesday’s high temperatures will climb above 32°F throughout the region, with readings reaching 70°F as far north as the central High Plains.  During the recent cold wave, winter wheat had little or no protective snow cover across roughly the southern half of the Plains, with temperatures falling to 0°F or below on December 22 and 23 as far south as Texas’ northern panhandle.

In the South, producers from southern Texas to central Florida are assessing the impacts of a holiday weekend freeze on a variety of crops, including citrus, sugarcane, and strawberries.  Southern Florida escaped the freeze but experienced atypically cold weather.  For much of the Deep South, it was the coldest weather this time of year since 1989.  Due to competition from other holiday cold waves, such as those observed in 1983 and 1989, only a few Southern daily temperature records were set or tied.  Among them on the 24th:  7°F in Athens, Georgia, and -4°F in Blacksburg, Virginia.

In the West, suddenly stormy weather is affecting the Pacific Coast States, extending as far south as central California.  Precipitation is also pushing inland across the northern Great Basin, northern Intermountain West, and northern Rockies.  As the Western storminess begins to unfold, snow levels are initially quite high, leading to flooding in some lower-elevation Northwestern locations as rain combines with melting snow to enhance runoff into creeks and rivers.