Lots Of Record Highs, Yes, But It IS December: Winter Hits, Too. Also: Tornado Threat

Vehicles in my St. Albans, Vermont driveway are dusted
with snow. You have to expect that in December. However,
this thin layer of snow will melt away in unseasonable 
warmth tomorrow. 

For the past couple of days, I've been jumping up and down and pulling  my hair out (not really)  over the remarkable warmth this December in the United States.  

But it IS December, so winter is making its intrusions no matter what. There's nothing unprecedented about the winter weather in some parts of the nation, but there are some cold season hazards in the forecast to talk about.  Even here in Vermont.

The storm that's about to create near record warmth in the southeastern quarter of the nation is also creating a stripe of pretty heavy snow to its north. 

Winter storm warnings are in effect for a long strip extending from Wyoming, through northern Nebraska and parts of South Dakota, on up through southern Minnesota, and into Wisconsin and through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Through this stripe, they're expecting six to 12 inches of snow, along with a lot of wind. So yeah, messy.

I'm still awaiting word if this system produced measurable snow in Denver. This is by far the latest in the season the Mile High City has waited for measurable snow.

Since this storm will be passing to the west of Vermont, we'll be in the warm side of the storm. Before we get there, though, the system's warm front will have to pass through. Which means we'll need to first endure a bit of wintry weather. 

Late tonight and early Saturday, this warm front will produce rain and mixed precipitation in the Green Mountain State. Forecasters don't think it will be enough to cause any particular problems in the Champlain Valley.

However, in protected valleys, especially east of the Green Mountains, a little sleet and especially freezing rain is good bet early Saturday. There won't be much - not nearly enough to cause problems with trees and power lines.

But as they say, a little dab will do ya, so the expected light freezing rain will make driving hazardous. Winter weather advisories are up for these areas.

If you expect to be on the roads Saturday morning, especially in the eastern half of Vermont, you might postpone your trip a bit until mid-morning. By then, it probably will have gotten warm enough to melt any ice.

We'll end up with a breezy, rather rainy and quite warm Saturday afternoon, as many of us get up to 50 or above. It'll stay relatively warm all next week. 

By the way, the biggest hazard from this far-reaching storm system isn't winter weather, which is dangerous enough. 

Ingredients seem to be coming together for a possible overnight tornado outbreak centered n the mid-Mississippi Valley, including the cities of Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Louisville.

The atmospheric dynamics seem set to trigger supercells and tornadoes well after dark tonight and continuing overnight. Some strong tornadoes are possible, says NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

Overnight tornadoes, especially strong ones are especially dangerous. People are sleeping and not up and aware to receive tornado warnings. Which means even a well-warned tornado can still surprise people before they can take shelter in basements and closets and such. 

Let's hope that any strong tornadoes that do form overnight stay out of population centers, at least.

Now, back to winter weather. Another systems is expected to blast the Sierra Nevada mountains of California Saturday through Tuesday.  

That's actually a good thing for drought-plagued California. Snowfall in the Sierra has been pretty lackluster so far this season, so anything will help.

The same storm is expected to spread the first badly needed rains of the season into southern California early next week.