Western Snow And Central Heavy Rain – October 11, 2021

National Weather Forecast

An area of low pressure and associated fronts will continue to produce showers and storms Monday from the Great Lakes south to the western Gulf Coast. The other main story is a system out in the Great Basin, producing the first widespread winter storm of the season for portions of the Rockies. This system will also produce a critical fire danger across the California Central Valley.

From Sunday to Tuesday the heaviest rain will fall across portions of Oklahoma and Kansas, where at least 3” of rain will be possible. Out across portions of Montana and Wyoming at least 1-2 feet of snow will be possible.

Here’s a closer look at those expected snowfall tallies out west through 7 PM Tuesday. While areas like Billings and Casper could see at least 4” of snow, the higher amounts of 1-2 feet (or more) will be found up in the mountains.

_______________________________________________

6 Aspects of American Life Threatened by Climate Change

More from the New York Times: “Less food. More traffic accidents. Extreme weather hitting nuclear waste sites. Migrants rushing toward the United States, fleeing even worse calamity in their own countries. Those scenarios, once the stuff of dystopian fiction, are now driving American policymaking. Under orders from President Biden, top officials at every government agency have spent months considering the top climate threats their agencies face, and how to cope with them.”

Keeping it clean and cool

More from the University of British Columbia: “The summer of 2021 in Western Canada was one of the hottest on record. In BC alone, 59 weather stations registered their hottest temperatures ever on June 27. For those lucky enough to have air conditioners, keeping their homes cool during the heat dome was relatively easy. However, the comfort lasted only until the utility bills arrived. As a result of heatwaves around the world, global electricity demand increased by five per cent so far in 2021 and it is expected to continue to increase annually, says UBCO researcher Dr. Mohammad Al Hashmi. … Using data from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Al Hashmi developed a framework for reducing energy consumption related to residential buildings. The operational framework looks at methods to keep homes cool with minimum adverse environmental impacts.”

Record-Breaking Texas Drought More Severe Than Previously Thought

More from UT News: “In 2011, Texas experienced one of its worst droughts ever. The dry, parched conditions caused over $7 billion in crop and livestock losses, sparked wildfires, pushed power grids to the limit, and reduced reservoirs to dangerously low levels. And according to a recent study led by geoscientists at The University of Texas at Austin, the drought was worse than previously thought. The study, published in the Journal of Hydrology, incorporated additional soil moisture-related data from gravity and microwave sensors on satellites into a land surface model used by scientists to determine the severity of droughts. According to the updated model simulation, severe drought was more widespread and longer lasting than judged by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), which is the current standard for designating drought across the United States.”

_______________________________________________

Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).

– D.J. Kayser