Last evening, as a massive winter storm swirled over the Central Plains, thunderstorms rolled across Missouri, swept northward in advance of the cold front. Dropping torrential rain, the storms were accompanied by balmy, spring-like air and, by dawn, the thermometer sat at 50 degrees F.
Though such balmy interludes are common here during the winter months, the potency of the thunderstorms was a bit unusual, confirming the tremendous amount of energy in this latest storm system; to our southwest, the trailing cold front ignited tornadic supercells in east Texas while, north of the storm, blizzards raged across Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Contrary to the original forecast, the Midwest low has apparently weakened while a secondary low, which developed over Oklahoma, has strengthened, bringing heavy snow to central Oklahoma, northern Texas and southeastern Kansas. As this low tracks northeastward, we will remain in the warm (rainy) sector today but, as its front sweeps in from the west, our temperature will plummet; in concert, snow will develop, northwest winds will strafe the Heartland and December will reclaim Missouri.
