Winter storm Q, so named by the Weather Channel, was spinning over Southern California this morning, bringing snow to the Sierra Nevada, the Transverse Ranges and the mountains east of Los Angeles and San Diego. As it moves eastward, crossing the Desert Southwest, the storm will blanket the Mogollon Rim and the Southern Rockies before moving onto the Plains.
There it's counterclockwise winds will sweep Gulf Moisture toward the Front Range, producing heavy snow across the High Plains and, to a lesser extent, along the Front Range urban corridor. While Pacific storms generally produce a warm, southerly flow in advance of their cold front, a dome of high pressure, centered over the northern Great Lakes, has locked the Midwest and Great Plains in its icy grip, negating the usual pre-storm warmup. As a result, the storm is forecast to move eastward across the Southern Plains, lifting Gulf moisture above the entrenched, sub-freezing air; where the surface layer of cold air is thin, from Oklahoma to Kentucky and Tennessee, an ice storm may develop while, to the north, where the Arctic layer is thick, heavy snow is expected.
Here in Missouri, the southern part of the State will likely receive an icy mix of sleet and freezing rain while central and northern latitudes can expect anywhere from 4 to 12 inches of snow. Though travel may become hazardous, the heavy snow will be welcomed, especially across the drought plagued regions of the Great Plains. Within a few days significant melting should occur, returning moisture to the parched soil and depleted reservoirs. Hopefully, more southern storms will arrive in the coming months.
