• Heavy snow belts Rockies and Plains; Texas city to see 67-degree temperature drop

    A May snowstorm is expected to dump an unprecedented six to nine inches of snow from Denver to as far west as Minneapolis. TODAY's Al Roker reports.

    By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A blast of cold air being dragged southward by a dip in the jet stream dumped snow in the Rockies, Plains and parts of the Midwest on Wednesday in a snowfall that meteorologists said could be “historic” for this time of year.

    Up to 18 inches of snow is forecast for the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, where heavy snow started falling Tuesday. Several inches could also fall by the end of the week in a band from Texas to Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.

    Some portions of the Plains and upper Midwest regions, including Wisconsin and sections of Minnesota, could see a flurry of wet snow on Wednesday night into Thursday, Weather.com reported. A light early May dusting may even be seen as far south as the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.

    Cheyenne, Wyo., had already received more than 6 inches of snow early Wednesday morning, Weather.com reported.

    The National Weather Service reported winter storm warnings were in effect for portions of north-central Colorado, southern Wyoming and southern Minnesota.

    AP

    Snow clings to flowers in Denver on Wednesday. As much as a foot of snow is forecast for some areas of Colorado.

    With the jet stream bowing to the south, cold air is being sucked deep into the country, bringing temperature changes that may seem downright cruel to many, according to meteorologists at Weather.com.

    Amarillo, Texas, is the perfect example. On Tuesday it hit a high of 97 degrees.

    “By tomorrow morning we have … Amarillo at 30 and probably snowing,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said. “So in Amarillo we’re projecting a 67-degree drop from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday morning – so summer to winter.”

    Minneapolis, Kansas City and Des Moines, Iowa, have been basking in the 70s and 80s. They’ll be lucky to see 40 through the end of the week, weather.com said. And Chicago just had its first 80-degree day of the season. It should have another on Wednesday before highs drop to the 50s and low 60s through the weekend.

    The heaviest snowfall will be along the Front Range of the Rockies, with an area from central Colorado to southeastern Wyoming under winter storm warnings that call for up to 20 inches of fresh snow through Wednesday night. Just to the east, cities in the foothills, including Denver, could see five to eight inches of accumulation during the period, and roads could become icy and snow-packed, the weather service said.

    Further east, where the cold air meets the warm, severe thunderstorms are likely Wednesday in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, according to weather.com, which adds that the threat diminishes Thursday, with “marginally severe” storms possible in parts of Texas and southern Louisiana.

    Travel disruptions could come with the worst parts of the storm, with Interstates 25 and 80 between Wyoming and Colorado in line for possible snow and ice, Roth said. But as of Wednesday morning, FlightAware.com listed only 16 canceled flights in the region, all at Denver International Airport.

    “That will probably go up during the day,” Roth said.

    While the storm may set some snow records, May is often a fickle month. Heavy snow is fairly rare, but temperatures in different parts of North America can range radically, Roth said.

    Montreal, Quebec, and Ottawa, Ontario, for example, will be 30 to 40 degrees warmer on Thursday than normally toasty Oklahoma City, he said.

    Cheyenne, Wyo., which hit 70 degrees Tuesday afternoon, was on the verge Wednesday of breaking its May snowfall record of 14 inches, Roth said.

    “Cheyenne had eight inches as of midnight their time, and it’s been snowing steadily since that,” he said. “We think they’re going to end up with a good 12 to 18. … Welcome to May, right?”

    NBC News’ Matthew DeLuca contributed to this report.

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    This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 6:00 AM EDT

  • Storm system to bring more snow from South Dakota to Minnesota

    Freezing rains and high winds are expected to push deeper into the South on Thursday. Meanwhile, South Dakota and nearby states are prepping for more snow. The Weather Channel's Chris Warren reports.

    By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A vast storm system Wednesday night may bring snow from eastern South Dakota into northeast Nebraska, northwest Iowa, and central and southern Minnesota, to include the Twin Cities, The Weather Channel reported. Four to eight inches of snow could fall Wednesday night alone in the Sioux Falls to Minneapolis corridor.

    Light snow could reach as far east as northern Wisconsin, The Weather Channel reported.

    Farther east, in upstate New York, Buffalo could see a brief period of freezing rain Thursday morning.

    Earlier Wednesday, the storm pounded the Dakotas with snow, coated Oklahoma with rare spring ice and took aim at parts of the Mid-Atlantic and South.


    Snow, freezing rain and strong winds snapped trees, broke power poles and left cars sheathed in ice in South Dakota, and the city of Sioux Falls declared a state of emergency.

    More coverage from weather.com

    Farther south — and much more unusually — ice coated roads in Oklahoma, all the way down to the Red River border with Texas.

    “For April, that is really amazing,” said Tom Niziol, a meteorologist and winter weather expert for The Weather Channel.

    It all made for a messy day of travel in the Great Plains and the Midwest. Chicago O’Hare, a hub airport for the central United States, reported almost 500 flight cancellations.

    Dirk Lammers / AP

    Icy branches partially block a city street and fall amid parked cars in Sioux Falls, S.D.

    As the storm system lumbers eastward, powerful thunderstorms are expected later Wednesday and overnight in Pennsylvania and Maryland, including Philadelphia and its suburbs.

    It has been unusually cold this week in the West and unseasonably warm in the East, including temperatures pushing 90 degrees Wednesday in Washington. That warm air makes the weather system more dangerous.

    “There will be more than enough fuel for these storms,” said Carl Parker, another meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

    A line of late-day storms was expected to sweep across Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon, threatening to dump damaging hail and perhaps spawn tornadoes before pushing out of the state in the evening.

    The same storm system has already produced bizarre weather elsewhere in the country.

    Earlier this week, the temperature fell 55 degrees in Denver in less than 24 hours. Gusty wind nudged 21 cars of a freight train off the tracks in Nebraska. And snowflakes the size of cotton balls fall in Marshall, Minn., NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis reported.

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:32 AM EDT

  • Baseball's opening day sees a return to winter temperatures for much of US

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    AP

    An area of cloudiness associated with a cold front stretches from New England through the Gulf of Mexico in this NOAA satellite image taken Monday.

    The eastern two-thirds of the mainland United States were set for more winter weather on Monday with a cold front set to bring temperatures of up to 20 degrees below normal, forecasters said.

    The weather warmed up over the weekend but the arrival of April was set to see temperatures plunge once again, according to the National Weather Service. It warned there was “a slight risk of severe thunderstorms” in parts of the Texas Panhandle.

    Baseball fans heading to several opening-day games were advised to dress for the conditions.

    Read more from weather.com

    Weather.com also warned there was a chance of thunderstorms in Florida and parts of the Gulf Coast, and a chance of severe storms in southern Georgia.

    The National Weather Service said it would feel like winter for much of the country.

    “The brief warm-up that brought temperatures to near normal for parts of the central and eastern U.S. over the weekend will quickly come to an end,” the National Weather Service said on its website.

    “A strong cold front will bring much colder temperatures to the northern U.S. by Monday and to the eastern U.S. by Tuesday,” it said.

    “Temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees below normal, and will be reminiscent of winter for the eastern two thirds of the country,” it added.

    Weather.com’s temperature map showed much of the country turning blue into Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to be as low as 2 degrees in Minnesota, 22 in northern New England, 29 in Kansas, and 34 in Tennessee.

    Chris Dolce, of weather.com, joked that “you would think we were playing a cruel April Fools' Day joke as we look at the forecast to start out the upcoming work week.”

    "A cold front is starting to usher in yet another blast of late-season arctic air that will charge into the central and eastern states … of course, this only piles on to the misery of what has been a frustrating cold March east of the Rockies,” he said.

    He said that fans heading to opening-day Major League Baseball games would need to bundle up in Minneapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

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  • More snow coming with much of US set to shiver through March

    Despite the official arrival of spring, a major winter storm was expected to dump more snow from Colorado to the Ohio Valley through Sunday. KUSA-TV's Meagan Fitzgerald reports.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Despite the official arrival of spring, a major winter storm was expected to dump more snow from Colorado to the Ohio Valley through Sunday, forecasters said, warning much of the U.S. would see unseasonably cold weather through the end of March.

    Michael Palmer, of weather.com, said that the heaviest band of snow over the next 24 hours would move from eastern Colorado through northern Kansas and into Missouri.

    He said Denver was expected to get 5 to 8 inches of snow, with some parts of the High Plains of Colorado and northwest Kansas getting a foot or more.

    Weather Channel's Todd Santos joins Lester Holt with more on the approaching winter storm.

    “Snow, locally heavy, rides eastward along I-70 to Kansas City and St. Louis through Saturday night and Sunday,” Palmer said.

    “The heavier snow, potentially 6 to 12 inches plus, then pounds much of Indiana, northern Kentucky and Ohio Sunday into Sunday night,” he added.

    Soccer game blizzard
    A soccer game between the United States and Costa Rica went ahead Friday night despite the snowy weather. The World Cup 2014 qualifying game was won 1-0 by the U.S. with U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann describing it as "a real snow battle."

    But Reuters reported the Costa Ricans were left fuming over the referee's decision to keep playing through a blizzard. Head coach Jorge Luis Pinto told the news agency that the game was an "embarrassment to football" and midfielder Cristian Bolanos was also irate. "It was robbery, a disgrace, I've never played a game in these conditions," the player said. 

    Palmer said that “very cold air with freezing temps” was expected to last in the East through the end of March.

    “The unseasonably cold March temperatures are locked in place across much of the country for the next week or so,” Palmer said.

    “Most areas will be 10-30 degrees below average with freezing temps extending deep into the South at times,” he added. “The only areas escaping the chill will be parts of Florida and from the Rio Grand Valley into the Desert Southwest.”

    Mark Leffingwell / Reuters

    A soccer match between the U.S. and Costa Rica went ahead Friday despite blizzard conditions in Commerce City, Colorado.

    “Many areas of the Upper Midwest are on track to have a top 5 or top 10 coldest March on record after the warmest March just last year.”

    Palmer also said that the Mid-Atlantic could expected a “wintry mix changing to snow” late Sunday and into Monday.

    “A more northerly track of the system may bring some accumulating snow as far north as New York City on Monday,” he added.

    The Gulf Coast was also expected to see severe storms, generally south of I-20 in east Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida on Saturday into Sunday.

    “Large hail and damaging winds are the primary threats, but isolated tornadoes are still possible,” Palmer said.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related:

    US fights through storm, downs Costa Rica

    How a messy match unfolded, a 'real snow battle'

    Prosecutor sees Punxsutawney Phil pushing daisies for forecast fraud

  • Frigid temperatures continue to blast Northeast, Midwest; ice hits the South

    The nation is in the grips of a blast of cold Arctic air with temperatures falling to some of the lowest marks in years and wind chills plummeting to dangerously low levels. NBC's Jay Gray reports.

    By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Capping off a brutal week of frigid conditions and subzero wind chills, residents across much of the country on Friday were still experiencing some of the coldest temperatures in years — with southern states getting a rare icy blast.


    Peak temperatures from the Northeast to the Midwest were slated to range from single digits to the 30s, and forecasters said freezing air temperatures and the chance of precipitation could mean snow in both regions.

    "This is actually quite an impressive mass of cold air," Richard Castro, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service told NBCChicago.com.

    By mid-afternoon on Friday, Pennsylvania was feeling the first of a "widespread storm, impacting the entire state," said state's transportation department spokesman Steve Chizmar.

    Snow was falling over most of the state, and forecasters predicted a total of 1 to 4 inches through Saturday morning, while transportation department crews stayed busy plowing and salting the roads.

    Hundreds of schools in the state dismissed classes early Friday.

    Only a light dusting, if any accumulation, was expected in New York City, where real-feel temperatures were below zero Friday morning, NBCNewYork.com reported.

    Slideshow: Deep Freeze

    Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images

    A man photographs the fountain at Bryant Park in New York on Friday as the arctic air has turned the fountain into an ice sculpture.

    Launch slideshow

    In the Midwest, one of the first snowfalls of the season in Chicago created a few slick spots on the roads Friday morning, causing at least a dozen accidents, including an eight-vehicle crash, NBCChicago.com reported. Only minor injuries had been reported.

    Though little snow accumulated it was still record breaking. The 1.1 inches recorded Friday morning broke the city’s 335-day stretch of no more than an inch of snow accumulation in one day.

    The National Weather Service had winter weather advisories in effect for the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to southern New Jersey, and issued blizzard warnings for northern Georgia.

    Parts of Kentucky were reporting as much as half inch of ice accumulation, Weather.com reported. Slick roads in the southeast of the state were making driving hazardous, causing more than 100 accidents in Pulaski County alone, it said.

    Tennessee was also slick with ice in the east, and reported some power outages, while freezing rain caused a number of school systems in central and southern Kentucky to cancel classes, according to WLEX-TV.

    Because cold temperatures can be dangerous, officials advised residents to heed cold-weather tips, including wearing gloves, wearing a mouth covering to protect the lungs from bitter cold air, layering loose-fitting, warm clothing and wearing a hat to retain body heat.

    Animal advocates also urged pet owners to only take elderly dogs, puppies and short-haired dogs outside when it is absolutely necessary. If a dog whines frequently or keeps lifting its paws up while on a walk, it may need boots. Cat owners should keep their animals inside at all times in such bitter cold, NBCChicago.com reported.

    The forecast for next week called for some relief from the arctic temperatures of late, beginning with sunny skies and temperatures hitting the mid-40s to 50s by the middle of the week. 

    Kari Huus, NBC Staff Writer, contributed to this report.

    Leaving snow and ice in its wake, Winter Storm Khan is churning toward the Mid-Atlantic. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

  • Los Angeles sees record low as cold front maintains grip

    Winds up to 50 mph added to California's big chill misery on Monday as farmers struggle to save their citrus crops from sub-freezing temperatures and residents bundle up in record cold.


    Downtown Los Angeles dipped to 35 degrees just before 4 a.m. Monday, breaking the previous daily record of 36 degrees set on Jan. 14, 2007.

    Elsewhere Monday, it was 13 degrees in high desert Lancaster at 6 a.m., 25 degrees in Fresno, 27 in Temecula, 33 in Redondo Beach and Sacramento, 36 in Van Nuys and Palm Springs and 40 in San Francisco.

    In Angeles National Forest, where overnight temperatures have been dropping into the 20s, Arcadia hiker Danny Kim, 28, was found Sunday night after surviving 26 hours in the frigid West Fork wilderness. Kim was airlifted to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.

    Some areas may see as much as an inch of ice, which is especially bad news for the Memphis air hub of Federal Express. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Santa Ana winds have now joined the weeklong cold siege, raking the usual areas below mountain passes, including Fontana, the San Fernando Valley, Riverside, Chino Hills and the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County.

    The winds helped to keep most Southern California crops out of danger.

    But temperatures dipping into the 20s threatened mandarin oranges in the San Joaquin Valley. Mandarins can only withstand 32 degree temperatures.

    Growers have been running irrigation water and turned on wind machines to ward off the cold.

    "It's the coldest so far. We're expecting a little damage," said Alyssa Houtdy of Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual, an association of the state's 3,900 citrus growers.

    AP Photo/Nick Ut

    Traffic moves along the southbound I-5 freeway Friday Jan. 11, 2013 near Gorman, Calif. California authorities on Friday reopened a 40-mile stretch of I-5, a major highway north of Los Angeles, some 17 hours after snow shut the route and forced hundreds of truckers to spend the cold night in their rigs.

    Farmers were still being contacted for assessments.

    "We came out better than what we expected," Delano grower Doug Carman told the Fresno Bee. Carman's Paramount Citrus farms about 30,000 acres of clementine mandarins, navel and Valencia oranges, lemons and other citrus varieties

    In Beverly Hills, fans brought heavy coats and scarves as they waited along the red carpet hoping to catch glimpses of stars arriving for the Golden Globes ceremony Sunday evening. Some of the actors shivered but weren't complaining.

    "I'd rather be nippy than boiling hot," said actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who arrived in a strapless dress. "No, I'm not wearing any leggings or long underwear."

    In San Diego, zookeepers offered extra heat and shelter for some animals.

    The cold air was flowing east into neighboring Arizona, where metropolitan Phoenix was marking one of its coldest stretches in year. Temperatures over the weekend dipped to 30 degrees at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. They fell well below zero in mountainous Flagstaff. 

    By The Associated Press
    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • As California shivers, other parts of US enjoy record highs in January

    Damian Dovarganes / AP

    A high school student covers from the cold wind while waiting a a bus stop in Los Angeles on Thursday.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A chill has left California frozen in its tracks, stranding motorists on snowy roadways and keeping everyone close to the warmth of their heaters.

    A low pressure trough descending over San Diego County and over parts of neighboring Orange County could keep nightly temperatures below the freezing point in coastal areas, the low deserts and inland valleys, threatening orange, avocado orchards and other sensitive plants, forecasters warned, reported The Associated Press. Friday and Saturday nights were expected to be the coldest nights.

    Meanwhile, on the East Coast, as well as parts of the South and Midwest, a record warm 2012 was spilling over into the new year. Four Florida cities broke records for the month of January on Wednesday, weather.com reported, all with temperatures 85 degrees Fahrenheit or above. And on Thursday, in International Falls, Minn., the temperature climbed to 48 degrees, beating its previous record high for the day by seven degrees, according to weather.com.

    For more, go to weather.com

    Elsewhere across the country, Chicago and Detroit could reach highs in the 50s this weekend — weather that's typical for late March, weather.com reported. Temperatures in the 60s are forecast for Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, average weather for the second week in April in those locations, meteorologists said. 

    In all, two dozen cities may break their daily record highs Friday, weather.com forecast. And 40 or more cities in the South and East may tie or break daily record highs Saturday, including Rochester, N.Y., Columbus, Ohio, and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

    Those mild temperatures contrasted greatly to the Grapevine section of California's Interstate 5 — the crucial artery that links southern and northern California -- which shut down Thursday night, the AP reported. Heavy snow stranded motorists and truckers. Several accidents and spin-outs were reported before the California Highway Patrol closed the north-south route, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

    "We're still dealing with some icy and snowy conditions along the Grapevine," said NBCLosAngeles.com forecaster Elita Loresca. "We'll see some improvement in and around the Grapevine, but frost advisories and freeze watches will be posted again tonight and, once again, overnight Saturday into Sunday."

     


    Elsewhere, strawberry growers covered their crops with soft cloth to protect them.

    "These guys are going to be up all night watching thermometers," Eric Larson of the San Diego County Farm Bureau told The AP. 

    Freezing temperatures weren't the only weather challenge in Southern California: Forecasters say a combination of high tides, high surf and strong winds will bring minor flooding to low-lying areas of the coast. The weather service issued coastal flood advisories for all counties from San Luis Obispo south to San Diego through Saturday morning, reported The AP.

    Farther north in Sonoma County, homeless shelters were handing out warm clothes to protect the least fortunate from below-freezing temperatures overnight, according to The AP. 

    Even workers at San Diego's SeaWorld had plans to turn up the heat for their macaws, toucans and parrots. San Diego zookeepers were also heating rooms for chimpanzees, apes and other tropical animals. 

    "They'll probably be huddling together and not be in areas where people will be able to see them," zoo spokeswoman Christina Simmons told The AP. 

    California isn't the only part of the country going through a cold snap. Parts of the Dakotas and northern Montana may not get above zero degrees this weekend, and Chicago may struggle to rise above freezing, weather.com said.

    The Weather Channel's Jon Erdman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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