Blizzard In The Sierra, Late Week Severe Threat – National Weather Outlook For February 27, 2023

by | Feb 27, 2023 | Weather

Blizzard

National Weather Forecast

Several systems will continue to impact the lower 48 as we head into the work week. First, a system moving eastward spreads snow, ice, and storms from the central to the eastern United States. Meanwhile, a couple of systems in the western United States continue to bring heavy snow (and blizzard conditions in the Sierra) as well as rain.

As the West Coast continues to get slammed with systems through midweek, mountainous areas could see several feet of snow accumulation through Tuesday evening. The system impacting the Upper Midwest to New England will bring several inches of snow along with it. Meanwhile, 1-3” of rain could fall across the Central Plains.

Heavy icing is possible across the Upper Midwest Sunday Night into Monday, with the potential of up to a quarter inch across central Minnesota into central Wisconsin and central Michigan. For Michigan, this ice will impact areas a little farther north than the round last week did – a round that still has ~275,000 power customers without power as of Sunday afternoon in southern Michigan.

Meanwhile, several feet of snow will continue to accumulate out west – especially in the Sierra, where blizzard conditions are expected with wind gusts to up at least 50 mph and locally to 70 mph.

As the system that is impacting the western United States during the first half of this week finally pushes eastward, we will see the severe weather threat increase across the Southern Plains and Deep South Thursday into Friday. There exists the threat of a severe weather outbreak from Texas to Alabama on Thursday, with tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail all possible.

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This “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk

More from ProPublica: “The Environmental Protection Agency recently gave a Chevron refinery the green light to create fuel from discarded plastics as part of a “climate-friendly” initiative to boost alternatives to petroleum. But, according to agency records obtained by ProPublica and The Guardian, the production of one of the fuels could emit air pollution that is so toxic, 1 out of 4 people exposed to it over a lifetime could get cancer. “That kind of risk is obscene,” said Linda Birnbaum, former head of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. “You can’t let that get out.” That risk is 250,000 times greater than the level usually considered acceptable by the EPA division that approves new chemicals. Chevron hasn’t started making this jet fuel yet, the EPA said. When the company does, the cancer burden will disproportionately fall on people who have low incomes and are Black because of the population that lives within 3 miles of the refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi.”

Surprising ‘forbidden planet’ discovered outside our solar system

More from CNN: “Astronomers have found an unusually large planet orbiting a small star, located about 280 light-years from Earth. The unexpected size of the newly discovered world, called TOI 5205b, has led researchers to call it the “forbidden planet.” About the size of Jupiter, it was spotted by researchers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. The planet-hunting mission, launched in 2018, surveys the light of the nearest and brightest stars to spot dips in starlight, which suggests those stars have planets orbiting them. The TESS mission has found thousands of potential planets. The exoplanet orbits a red dwarf star called TOI-5205, which is about 40% the size and mass of our sun, and about 5,660 degrees Fahrenheit (3,127 degrees Celsius) in temperature compared with the sun’s blazing average of 9,980 F (5,527 C).”

Canada’s Emissions Up 2.8% in 2021 with Fossil Fuels Leading the Rise

More from The Energy Mix: “Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.8% in 2021, and fossil fuels accounted for more than half of the total, according to an “early estimate” released today by the Canadian Climate Institute (CCI). The Institute’s analysis shows emissions continuing to “decouple” from GDP, so that each unit of economic activity produces less climate pollution. But the country’s total greenhouse gas output increased by 19 million tonnes, to a total of 691 megatonnes, in a year when the economy was just beginning to restart after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 11 megatonnes—58% of the total—came from oil and gas extraction.”

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