Ice Storm Continues To Impact The Southern U.S. – National Weather Outlook For February 2, 2023

by | Feb 2, 2023 | Weather

National Weather Forecast

The system that has been affecting the southern United States continues on Thursday, with icing concerns from Texas to the Tennessee Valley and storms south of that in the warm sector across the lower Mississippi Valley and Deep South. Lake effect snow will be possible downwind of the Great Lakes. Rainy weather will be possible along the west coast from the Pacific Northwest to the Bay Area.

An additional 1-3” of rain could fall through the end of the week across the Southeastern United States as the system that has been impacting the region continues and finally starts to move out. The heaviest snow across the lower 48 will be due to lake-effect snow as the Great Lakes remain fairly ice-free, with 6-12” of snow possible.

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California floated cutting major Southwest cities off Colorado River water before touching its agriculture supply, sources say

More from CNN: “In a closed-door negotiation last week over the fate of the Colorado River, representatives from California’s powerful water districts proposed modeling what the basin’s future would look like if some of the West’s biggest cities – including Phoenix and Las Vegas – were cut off from the river’s water supply, three people familiar with the talks told CNN. More than 5 million people in Arizona are served by Colorado River water, which accounts for 40% of Phoenix’s supply. Around 90% of Las Vegas’ water is from the river. The proposal came in a session between states that was focused on achieving unprecedented water cuts to save the Colorado River – a system that overall provides water and electricity to more than 40 million people in the West. For months, seven states have been trying to come up with cuts to keep the river system from crashing.”

Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions show steep drop

More from the Star Tribune: “Minnesota could hit its climate targets for the first time, thanks to a steep drop in greenhouse gas pollution. Global warming emissions in the state dropped 23% from 2005 through 2020, according to the latest inventory out Tuesday. The pandemic-related economic slowdown explains part of the decline, but not all, pollution officials said. Certain sectors such as transportation were showing downward trends before COVID, they said.”

Clean energy is cheaper than coal across the whole US, study finds

More from Canary Media: “Years of analysis have made it clear that replacing most of the coal plants in the United States with a mix of solar panels, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries can save billions of dollars and prevent air pollution while fighting climate change. Now, with Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and federal financing on the table, the coal-to-clean transition is not just more cost-effective than ever before — it can also be accomplished by building clean energy close to retiring coal plants. So says the latest Coal Cost Crossover report from think tank Energy Innovation. The report finds that all but one of the country’s 210 coal plants could be shut down and replaced with clean energy and batteries at a net savings to energy consumers, up from 72 percent of coal plants as of Energy Innovation’s last such analysis in 2021.”

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