Snow For The Western Mountains – National Weather Outlook For December 8, 2023

by | Dec 8, 2023 | Weather

National Weather Forecast

On Friday, we’ll be tracking two areas of low pressure – one in the Southern Plains, and another just north of International Falls in northern Minnesota. These will help to produce showers and storms from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, with snow behind in parts of the Rockies and Northern Plains. Areas of the Pacific Northwest will also see some rain and snow. A few record highs are possible in the Southern Plains and in the Upper Midwest.

A few pockets of heavier precipitation is expected through Saturday evening – one across the mid/lower Mississippi Valley, and another in parts of the Northwest. Totals will generally remain under 3”.

Through the first half of the weekend, some western mountainous areas could see a foot to foot and a half of snowfall – particularly in parts of the Cascades and northern Rockies.

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2023 is officially the hottest year ever recorded, and scientists say “the temperature will keep rising”

More from CBS News: “After months of expectation, it’s official — 2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced the milestone after analyzing data that showed the world saw its warmest-ever November. Last month was roughly 1.75 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average, Copernicus said, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22 degrees Celsius, or about 57.6 degrees Fahrenheit. And now, Copernicus says that for January to November 2023, global average temperatures were the highest on record — 1.46 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.”

The U.S. is moving away from coal. We toured a central Minnesota plant in transition

More from Project Optimist: “High-pitched whines, middling whirs, and deep thrumming fill the turbine room at the coal-powered Sherburne County Generating Station. Ear protection is required. Plant Director Michelle Neal must raise her voice on a tour to speak over turbines and generators turned by steam produced in three massive furnaces. The furnaces are the size of large buildings, visible for miles around the plant. They seem to sprout from the potato fields that surround it. “I don’t think that people understand the massiveness of the plants,” Neal said outside, in the shadow of the first unit. “It’s such an awe-inspiring location. We are the largest electric generating facility in the state of Minnesota.” The Sherco plant started producing energy more than four and a half decades ago. When all units are firing, it can generate 2,220 megawatt hours, which is enough to power roughly 1.5 million homes. At the end of the month, Xcel Energy will power down one of three coal-firing units at this generating station. Forever. It’s part of a massive shift in the company’s and the state’s electricity production.”

More than 3 million U.S. workers have clean energy jobs, report finds

More from Yale Climate Connections: “When people hear the phrase, “clean energy jobs,” many think of solar panel installers or wind turbine technicians. But those are just two of many careers in clean energy. Keefe: “Think about the manufacturers that produce, for instance, energy-efficient appliances, who produce electric vehicles … construction workers … who go out and make our homes, our offices, our schools more energy efficient through better insulation, through better windows and doors, through better lighting systems, better HVAC systems and that sort of thing. That’s actually the biggest part of the clean economy and the clean jobs market.” Bob Keefe directs Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), which publishes an annual clean jobs report. The report finds that more than 3 million people in the U.S. are employed in clean energy, and clean jobs grew 4% in 2022.”

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– D.J. Kayser