Weather In The USA 2023-up

[Mark]

Lake Erie is now about 96% ice-covered and still climbing. With another surge of Arctic air locking in over the eastern U.S., the lake is on track to reach 100% ice coverage within days — the first full freeze in three decades.

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, making it the quickest to respond to sustained cold. Even so, full ice coverage is rare, and it has taken a bitterly and persistently cold Jan-Feb of 2026 to lock-up its waters.


Further south, ice has also taken hold across Chesapeake Bay between Maryland and Virginia — a widespread, ‘walkable’ freeze not seen in more than 35 years:

[Mike Seidel on X]
With another cold weekend ahead, the ice is set to hold firm rather than retreat.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/lake-erie-nears-first-full-freeze

[Mark]

A storm moved over Hawaii this past weekend, causing flooding, knocking down trees and power poles and dumping a foot of snow on the island's mountaintops.

On Monday morning, every spot in the state was under a flood watch, with widespread wind advisories and winter storm warnings on the mountains of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said that a stalled front draped across the Hawaiian Islands, combined with a slow-moving area of low pressure, led to major flooding and near-hurricane-force wind gusts.

Hawaiian Electric warned customers to prepare for extended power outages Sunday night, after power was restored to 45,000 customers lost power earlier in the day. As of Sunday night, 19,000 customers were still in the dark.

Winds gusted over 70 mph on the islands of Maui and Moloka'i, with gusts over 60 mph on Oahu, Lanai and the Big Island. Rainfall amounts exceeded 30 inches at Laupahoehoe on the Big Island, with 23.22 inches at Waikamoi on Maui.



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All public schools, and the University of Hawaii, were closed on Monday, Hawaii News Now reported.

Flooding was reported on several roads.

"The road to the summit [of Mauna Kea] is closed," the Center for Maunakea Stewardship posted on Facebook Sunday night. Webcams on the summits continued to show snow early Monday morning. The winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service called for up to a foot of snow.

"Although the storm will move out after Monday," DaSilva added, "Western portions of the island chain will have to be on alert for the possibility of heavy rain this weekend as an area of low pressure moves to the west."

It snows in Hawaii?

Snow in Hawaii is not as unusual as many might think. The Big Island summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, home to research facilities, both rise above 13,000 feet, higher than the tallest points in 44 U.S. states.

Because of their high elevations, the mountains in Hawaii routinely get snow during the fall, winter and spring. Snow isn't officially measured in the state, but on average for the last 20 years, 25 to 30 winter weather advisories are issued for the peaks each year.

The earliest winter weather advisory in the fall during the last 20 years was on Oct. 13, 2014; the latest was in spring on June 8, 2018.

AccuWeather
 
https://sott.net/en504543

[Mark]

More than 8 feet of snow has fallen at Palisades Tahoe this week as the Sierra Nevada endures a sustained winter onslaught.


Interstate 80 shut down near Emigrant Gap after heavy snow overwhelmed eastbound lanes. Dozens of trucks were left stranded, and traffic backed up for more than six miles as the corridor effectively turned into a parking lot.


Away from the roads, seasonal totals have spiked across the range, with multiple sites now running well above average. At Cottonwood Lakes, pack has climbed to around double the normal level for mid-Feb, driven by repeated cold, high-yield storms.


After a slow start, the Sierra is now rapidly overshooting seasonal norms — and there’s more to come.

“The atmosphere is showing off,” writes UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab:
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/sierra-snowpack-surges-eastern-europe

[Mark]

A major winter storm is hammering the Sierra Nevada, delivering the most severe snowfall in years.

Snow stakes across the Tahoe basin are completely buried as the storm unloads at full force. Forecast totals of 3 to 8 feet are expected by Thursday evening, placing this system well above anything seen so far this winter.


Conditions at Donner Summit have deteriorated into a full blizzard. Visibility has collapsed to near zero. Vehicles are buried. Semi-trucks are stranded. Travel is impossible. Interstate 80 is fully closed through the pass as snow continues to pile up by the foot.


“These are the worst blizzard conditions I have ever seen in my life at Donner Summit,” storm chaser Colin McCarthy reported.

The extreme snowfall has already triggered avalanches. An incident reported just north of Donner Summit near Castle Peak caught 16 people. As of writing (early Wed), six have been confirmed as survivors, but ten are still missing.

This is a high-impact, dangerous winter storm in every sense: feet of accumulation, whiteout conditions, major transport shutdowns, and avalanches across the central Sierra.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/sierras-worst-snowstorm-in-years

[Mark]

Monday's storms shattered daily rain records and swamped Los Angeles and the Bay Area with flooding.

A flood threat remains for millions across much of the California coast as another round of moisture pushes inland off the Pacific Ocean, after Monday's storms shattered daily rain records. Meanwhile, heavy snow will spread from the Northern California mountain ranges into the southern part of the Sierra, adding to California's snowpack and eventually reaching the Rockies farther east, which are in a dire snow deficit.

Flooding was reported Monday across parts of California, after 1 - 2 inches of rain fell across the Los Angeles Basin and 3 - 5 inches of rain dropped across the Coastal Range north of the Bay Area.

Urban flooding swamped parts of LA, with water rising to the mid-door panels of some sedans in the Westwood neighborhood.
https://www.sott.net/article/504687-Monster-storms-flood-parts-of-California-with-rounds-of-heavy-rain-as-extreme-snow-slams-the-Sierra-Nevada
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[Mark]

Some 35 million people are under blizzard warnings from Virginia to Maine — more than 10% of the contiguous US population. In total, over 65 million people are covered by storm-related alerts, close to one-fifth of the country.

The system began “bombing out” early Monday, entering a phase of rapid intensification. Central pressure is plunging toward levels comparable to a Category 2 hurricane, a sign of an extremely powerful mid-latitude storm.

As the Northeast wakes up, the result is widespread whiteout conditions and wind-driven snow.

In New York City, images show snow plastered to street signs in Brooklyn, with totals already reaching around 9 inches as of 2 am local time, with conditions still deteriorating.

Intense snow bands continue to wrap around the core, capable of dumping heavy accumulations in a short time while strong winds drive severe blowing and drifting. For large parts of the Northeast, the worst of this blizzard is still unfolding.

The setup could hardly have been more extreme. The storm is feeding off a deep lobe attached to the historic ‘polar vortex’ currently building in Greenland...
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/major-blizzard-hitting-northeast

[Mark]

A major storm hit the US east coast on Monday, bringing record-breaking snow that caused disruptions for millions and thousands of flight cancellations.

Parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have seen nearly 37in (94cm) of snowfall, with more than 19in in New York City's Central Park, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Weather warnings stretched from North Carolina to northern Maine, with some in place further north in parts of eastern Canada.

More than 600,000 properties on the US east coast endured power outages, while the Boston Globe - a major US newspaper - said it will not go to print for the first time in its 153-year history due to the storm.

Travel across the region has been severely limited, with some states and cities implementing travel bans during the worst period of the storm.





The so-called "nor'easter" is forecast to move away from the US on Tuesday and across coastal parts of eastern Canada, though strong winds are expected to persist, according to the NWS.

Snow accumulations were anticipated to reach 1-2ft (30-61cm) near the north-east coastline, meanwhile.



Rhode Island, the smallest US state, appeared to have received the most snow during the storm. In fact, it has become the worst snowstorm to ever hit the state, according to local media.

Providence, the state capital, received 36in (91cm) of snow, dwarfing the existing record for the single greatest snowstorm: 28.6in (72.6cm) set in February 1978.

"It completely smashed it," Candice Hrencecin, an NWS meteorologist in Boston, told the New York Times. "We were just as shocked as everyone else."

A ban on non-essential travel was implemented in Rhode Island and also in neighbouring Connecticut.

Later in the day, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey also imposed a travel ban.

"White-out conditions are making travel extremely dangerous," she said in an online post. "If you get stuck, help will have a hard time reaching you... I strongly urge everyone to stay off the roads no matter where you live."

A white-out is when snow significantly reduces visibility.

Boston resident and avid walker Bradley Jay said the storm had made him feel like a "prisoner".

"I won't be able to really walk around town for another ten days. So I'm stuck inside," he told news agency Reuters.

In Massachusetts, nearly 300,000 were without power, according to monitor PowerOutage, including 85% of customers in Barnstable County, which includes all of Cape Cod.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/grJa3w3GF5w?feature=share

[Mark]

While the Lower 48 is currently enjoying a brief taste of spring, intense Arctic cold remains firmly entrenched up north.

Interior Alaska is enduring some of the harshest conditions.

In Fairbanks, temperatures plunged to -49F (-45C) on Sunday — the coldest March reading since 1956 (in books dating back to 1911).

Eastern Canada is also deep in the freezer. Northern Quebec recorded -37.7C (-36F) in Wapus recently, with a broad swath of the province posting temperatures well below -30C (-22F):

Parent fell to -34.8C (-31F), Normandin to -34.5C (-30F), and Chicoutimi to -33.5C (-28F).

For now, that cold reservoir remains locked up across the high latitudes, with the United States forecast relatively mild conditions through the next 7 to 10 days.

However, by mid-March, the ‘polar vortex’ is projected to sag southward toward the Canadian border.

When this happens, lobes of Arctic air are expected to spill into the Lower 48.

Around March 11–18, a substantial cold intrusion is lining up to crash south (likely the last of winter). If the pattern holds, a significant Arctic blast will plunge across large parts of the US — unusual for mid-March.

Spring may only be temporary, Americans. Enjoy it while it lasts.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/cold-locked-up-north-for-now-chinas

[Mark]

Washington, D.C.’s iconic cherry blossom season may arrive late this year after months of unusually cold weather slowed the trees’ development.

Each spring, more than 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the U.S. capital.

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival, running March 20 to April 12, marks the blooming of the trees first gifted to the United States by Japan in 1912.

But in 2026 the blossoms are lagging.

[Mark]

Residents across North Texas are assessing damage Thursday morning after a powerful line of severe storms swept through the Metroplex Wednesday night, leaving behind collapsed roofs, flooded highways, and record-breaking precipitation.

The National Weather Service confirmed that DFW Airport recorded 1.55 inches of rain on Wednesday, March 4. This officially breaks the previous daily record for the date of 1.27 inches, which had stood for nearly 90 years since 1937.

While the airport saw record-highs, neighboring areas like Mesquite and Seagoville reported even higher totals, ranging from 4 to 8 inches.

In Garland, the intense rainfall is blamed for a structural collapse at a commercial building in the 2900 block of Kingsley Road. Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, emergency crews responded to reports that a buildup of water caused the roof to give way.

Seven workers inside the building managed to evacuate safely, and authorities confirmed there were no injuries.
https://www.sott.net/article/504996-Dallas-weather-Record-rainfall-of-8-inches-reported-high-water-rescues-and-roof-collapses-during-severe-storms

https://sott.net/en504996

[Mark]

Winter is not finished with the United States.

The ECMWF shows a powerful Arctic air mass preparing to surge south across the Lower 48 over the next 1-2 weeks, bringing widespread snow and cold from the Pacific Northwest through the Great Lakes and into the Northeast.

The setup centers on a strengthening polar vortex over the high latitudes.

As the circulation stretches southward, it will drive dense polar air deep into the continent while multiple storm systems ride along the temperature boundary.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/major-late-season-snowstorms-target

[Mark]

Confirmed tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas and crews will now survey the destruction to determine the storm's final strength, with at least two fatalities.

Life-threatening storms erupted across the Midwest and Southern Plains Tuesday and into the evening, hurling grapefruit-size hail, drenching downpours that triggered some Flood Watches, and spawning powerful tornadoes — leaving a trail of widespread destruction.

The National Weather Service warned of possible EF3+ tornadoes across parts of Illinois and Indiana, raising the severe weather risk to Level 4 out of 5 ahead of the storms.

After Tuesday's brutal storms, warnings proved spot-on as tornado watches and severe weather swept across the Southern Plains to the Midwest — including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Michigan.

Confirmed tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas and crews will now survey the destruction to determine the storm's final strength.

This came just days after last week's deadly tornado outbreak tore through the Heartland, leaving many communities still reeling in its wake.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gffrO91EofA?feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eDFozER7kAE?feature=share
https://www.sott.net/article/505101-Deadly-tornadoes-massive-hail-heavy-rain-rip-through-Midwest-Southern-Plains-killing-at-least-two

[Mark]

North America Intro

Weekly Snow News for North America, updated 12 March 2026: Rockies receive up to 90cm (36") snowfall while spring warmth spreads across eastern resorts.

Springlike conditions continue to dominate across much of North America. While western regions have experienced a generally mild winter overall, the recent warmth is more unusual along the East Coast, which endured months of bitter cold earlier in the season. Some resorts across the East Coast and Midwest were forced to close temporarily over the past week due to heavy rain.

The Rockies did see a brief return of winter conditions heading into last weekend. Several resorts reported significant snowfall totals, with some locations seeing up to three feet (90cm) in 24 hours, though most recorded closer to 6 - 12 inches (15 - 30cm). Since then, sunshine has returned and temperatures have been climbing again.

Along the Pacific Coast, conditions have also been largely mild and sunny, although the Pacific Northwest is now beginning to turn more unsettled with increasing snowfall.
https://www.sott.net/article/505118-North-America-Weekly-Snow-Roundup-ski-resorts-in-the-Rockies-record-3-FEET-of-snowfall-in-24-hours

[Mark]

Over 100,000 people are without power in Hawaii as a rare storm pummels the entire state with dangerous thunderstorms, high elevation snow, and several inches of rain.

The storm stretch comes as the Kona low weather system drags tropical moisture over the islands, raising the threat for at least a foot of rainfall in the hardest‑hit areas.

Governor Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation on Monday. "A Kona low weather system is expected to produce prolonged heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding statewide, with the highest likelihood of flooding impacts across the smaller islands and urban areas," a news release from Green's office said.

Now, the website Power Outages is reporting on the failures impacting customers across the state. As of reporting on Saturday morning, there were more than 120,000 customers without power in Honolulu.

Honolulu was the hardest hit area. The East of Honolulu is reliant on power lines bringing electricity to the area from Windward Oahu. According to a report from Hawaii New Now, these transmission lines have been damaged, impacting service in the area.



https://www.sott.net/article/505148-Hawaii-Storm-Update-Over-100000-without-power-amid-flash-flood-warnings

[Mark]

A powerful winter storm has buried parts of the Midwest under deep snow, with blizzard conditions sweeping Minnesota and Iowa into Wisconsin and Michigan.

The storm has produced extreme totals. Herman, Michigan has reported about 36 inches (91 cm), while Mountain, Wisconsin has received around 34 inches (86 cm). Large areas from southeast Minnesota through central and northeastern Wisconsin and into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have recorded 20 inches (51 cm) or more.

In Wausau, Wisconsin, the storm set a new all-time daily snowfall record: 23.4 inches (59 cm) fell — the city’s snowiest day in more than 130 years of observations. Nearby Green Bay recorded 17.1 inches (43 cm), its snowiest day since 1889, bringing the storm total to 26.1 inches (66 cm), the second-largest on record.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/rare-march-cold-hits-the-philippines

[Mark]

A powerful late-season winter storm has buried parts of the Upper Midwest under extraordinary snowfall, with cold records and rare southern snow falling deep into the United States.

Northern Michigan’s Upper Peninsula recorded some of the heaviest totals.

Round Lake measured 52 inches (132.1 cm) of snow, with 48.5 inches (123.2 cm) at Cusino Lake and 45 inches (114.3 cm) at Herman. Forest Lake reported 42.5 inches (108 cm) and Three Lakes 40 inches (101.6 cm).

Heavy snow pounded the Ishpeming area too, where persistent bands built deep drifts:

The storm’s reach extended far beyond the traditional snowbelt.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/great-lakes-blizzard-rare-southern

[Mark]

Winter in Alaska is refusing to loosen its grip.

In Fairbanks, the airport again plunged to -40F (-40C) on March 18, making it the 31st time this winter that threshold has been breached. That places the 2025–26 season fourth on record for the number of -40F occurrences.

It also ties for the third-latest -40F reading in books dating back to 1948.

Meanwhile, southern Alaska is digging out from one of the snowiest winters in decades.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/alaska-deep-freeze-continues-as-snow

[Mark]

At Fairbanks, temperatures have not risen above freezing (32F / 0C) since October 31.

That streak now ranks 5th latest on record for the first above-freezing day (set to tie for 4th today). The standing record is March 31, set in 2007.

The cold has been more than just prolonged; it has been biting.

This week, Fairbanks marked its 71st day of the season (and 18th day this month) with low temperatures at or below -20F (-28.9C). This has made for the highest number of -20F or colder days in 50 years, ranking 9th since 1904.

Mercifully, forecasts show a building ridge of high pressure across northern Alaska, allowing temperatures to moderate. By the weekend, parts of the Interior are expected to rise to or just above 32F (0C) for the first time in nearly five months
.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/fairbanks-near-record-for-latest

[Mark]

Fairbanks has just recorded its coldest December–March period on record.

The 2025–26 season averaged just -13.6F (-25.3C), the lowest in records back to 1904.

From November through March, temperatures never rose above freezing - the first time that’s happened. The last above-freezing day was October 31.


The seasonal stats are extreme:

    152 days at or below freezing

    66 days with highs at or below 0F (-17.8C)

    72 days at or below -20F (-28.9C)

    52 days at or below -30F (-34.4C)

    31 days at or below -40F (-40C)


That freezing streak ended at 5:05 PM on Thursday, when temperatures reached 33F (0.6C). The run lasted 152 days, tying the record for the latest first above-freezing temperature in a season.

Snowfall also impressed: 92.6 inches (235 cm), ranking 12th in 122 years of records.

This is the story for the majority of Alaska this winter, and for much of Canada, too...

In addition to Rankin Inlet, NU, Churchill, MB, and Wabush, NL (as mentioned yesterday), Dawson, YK has also recorded its coldest March on record (data back to 1901). The monthly mean came in at -23C (-9.4F), a full 10.4C below average for the month of March and even about 2C colder than a typical February.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/fairbanks-just-logged-its-coldest

[Mark]

A late-season storm is moving into the Sierra Nevada, bringing a much-needed deluge of snow.

Initially, the snowline holds high through Friday, limiting early accumulation. But then a colder system follows on Saturday, dropping snow to lake level by the evening.

Multiple inches are expected at lake level, with as much as 2 feet (61 cm) forecast across higher terrain by Sunday. The highest peaks could far exceed that.

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect from 5 PM Friday to 10 PM Sunday for elevations above 4,500 feet. “Mountain travel may be very difficult to impossible,” warn the NWS.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/spring-storm-brings-snow-boost-to