The first half of the work week will be quite active across much of the nation as a highly impactful winter storm crosses the Rockies Monday and then emerges over the Plains on Tuesday.
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A rapidly amplifying mid-upper tropospheric trough tracking across the western U.S.
today will sustain vigorous lift and diffluence aloft, and sustain a strong surface low over Utah and then Colorado that will produce an impressive late season snowstorm across a wide expanse of the central and northern Rockies through Tuesday afternoon, with the greatest snowfall totals likely across the higher terrain of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado where 1 to 3 feet of accumulation is looking probable.
High wind warnings are also in effect from southern California to New Mexico, and extending northward into parts of southern Utah and Colorado where wind gusts will likely exceed 50 mph at times.
This combined with low humidity and dry vegetation will increase the fire weather potential considerably from eastern Arizona to the Texas Panhandle Monday, and then across a greater portion of the western High Plains on Tuesday.
After crossing the Rockies, the low pressure system becomes better organized over the central Plains Tuesday as the upper trough becomes negatively tilted and then evolves into a closed low.
This intensifying low will be making multiple weather headlines across the central U.S., only several days after a recent powerful low pressure system that was similar to what is currently being predicted.
A highly anomalous April snowstorm with blizzard conditions is expected from northwestern Nebraska and across the central Dakotas and then into northern Minnesota.
The potential exists for 1-2 feet of wind-driven snow in the core of the heaviest snow axis, and winds gusts in excess of 40 mph are likely.
Severe travel disruptions and hazards to livestock in the region are anticipated on Tuesday and even extending into early Wednesday.
An expansive warm sector will accompany this low pressure system across much of the south-central U.S., and a strong combination of kinematics and instability will lead to a Moderate Risk of severe storms per the latest Storm Prediction Center convective outlook across portions of Iowa, northeast Missouri, and western Illinois on Tuesday, with all modes of severe weather possible.
Severe storms can also be expected southward to the ArkLaTex region with an Enhanced Risk of severe storms.
Heavy rainfall may also lead to some localized instances of flooding.
Many of the areas that got hammered by the last severe weather outlook could be at risk again, so it's imperative that everyone in this region closely monitor the latest local forecasts and be prepared to take cover if warnings are issued.
Temperatures will be more like late May or early June from Texas eastward to the Southeast U.S.
and Mid-Atlantic for Tuesday and Wednesday, with widespread high temperatures in the 80s and lows in the 60s, and even in the 70s near the Gulf Coast.
The anomalous warmth should even extend north to the southern Great Lakes and Ohio valley.
With the strong front across the Plains moving eastward, there will be a temperature dichotomy with much below average readings across basically all of the western U.S.
and northern Plains, with many locations from the northern Rockies to the Dakotas staying below freezing all day Tuesday. ■