A powerful low pressure system moving through the Plains today and the Midwest on Wednesday continues to produce widespread significant impacts across the central U.S. including a blizzard, severe weather, flash flooding, and the risk for wildfires.
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Snow has already begun to fall to the northwest of the system across the Northern Plains where record snowfall and extreme storm impacts are forecast.
Storm total snowfall between 1-2 feet is expected from eastern Montana into western and northern North Dakota, and locally as high as 2-3 feet.
In addition, gusty winds as high as 50 mph will create blizzard conditions centered across western and northern North Dakota, where a Blizzard Warning is in effect through Thursday evening.
Travel will be very difficult to impossible and there is the potential for power outages and tree damage.
Significant impacts to young livestock are also possible.
As the system continues to the northeast, the snow will expand across the Upper Midwest Thursday, with significant snowfall looking possible for portions of northern Minnesota as well.
In the warm sector of the system, a widespread, significant severe weather outbreak is expected from the Lower Mississippi Valley northward through the Lower Ohio Valley and Midwest.
This includes the risk for strong tornadoes, particularly for portions of the Lower Mississippi Valley from Memphis south to northern Louisiana.
Widespread damaging winds are also likely with lines of storms forming along an eastward moving cold front as well as large hail.
In addition, there is a Slight Risk for heavy rain and possible flash flooding over the same region as storms both ahead of and along the cold front will have the potential to produce significant downpours.
Storms along the cold front will also likely pass over areas that see heavy rain from storms ahead of the front both today and tomorrow, leading to higher rain totals.
To the west, very low humidity combined with widespread sustained winds of 20-30 mph as the cold front passes southward have prompted a Critical Risk for fire weather conditions from the Storm Prediction Center for portions of the Central and Southern High Plains Wednesday.
A lower, but still notable risk will be in place for Thursday as a lee trough remains in place east of the Rockies.
Meanwhile, snow showers will continue to linger through the end of the forecast period (Thursday evening) along a meandering stationary front trailing to the west of the central U.S. system through the Central/Northern Rockies and into the Pacific Northwest.
Rain and thunderstorms will also continue for lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest and northern California as a trough of low pressure remains in place along the coast through Wednesday and another storm system approaches the region on Thursday.
Temperatures are forecast to remain cool across the western U.S. (15 to 30 degrees below average) through Thursday while warm southerly flow will transport well above average temperatures into the central and eastern U.S. ahead of the central U.S. system.
High temperatures will range from the 90s in southern Texas to the 80s from the Southern Plains through the Southeast and as far north as the Mid-Atlantic. ■