Who will be the winners and losers of holiday travel and a 2023 white Christmas across the US?
AccuWeather meteorologists say Christmas of 2023 could end up being one of the greenest in years.
While bare lands in parts of the Interior West and High Plains will be covered in snow in time for Christmas, the already meager amount of snow in the Midwest and Northeast will diminish in the coming days. Dashing the hopes of a white Christmas for the young and young at heart.
AccuWeather meteorologists warned that a large storm will bring adverse travel conditions of snow and rain over the central United States as Christmas travel increases.
The same storm that brought heavy rain to Southern California earlier this week is expected to join another storm from the northwest, bringing widespread snowfall to the Rockies this weekend.
The result will be a massive storm that will affect nearly 1 million square miles of the central section of the country with a roughly 50/50 split between snow over the Interior West and the high plains and rain over much of the Mississippi Valley over the extended weekend.
As temperatures cool over the Rockies and northern high plains, this will allow the storm to become an effective snow producer. Motorists should expect winter travel to continue to spread through Saturday night along hundreds of miles of highways from northern New Mexico to the Dakotas, including Interstates 25, 70 and 80 before expanding to portions of Interstates 90 and 94. Patches of slippery travel over high ground along Interstate 40 in New Mexico and Arizona are also likely early this weekend.
AccuWeather meteorologists are urging motorists who will be traveling through the Interstate 25 corridor to make sure their vehicle is winter-ready with enough tires and warm gear on hand in case of a stop.
Denver is the main airport that could be negatively impacted by the snowstorm Saturday night into Sunday night, with delays and possible flight cancellations.
Farther to the east, the storm's main legacy will be heavy rain, areas of fog and even some thunder and lightning across much of the Mississippi Valley early this weekend before spreading into much of the Great Lakes region and part of the Appalachians later Christmas. . From one day to Tuesday.
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Weather-related travel delays may worsen across part of Texas on Christmas Eve, including Houston and Dallas.
Motorists along portions of Interstates 29, 35 and 55 that run north/south, as well as several east/west interstates that bisect these highways over the Mississippi Valley, will encounter slick roads, poor visibility and local puddle accidents in places. point during the extended weekend.
Meanwhile, across much of the eastern third of the country, dry travel conditions will remain present through most of Christmas Day.
However, the exception will be over part of the interior Northeast, where a band of moisture will develop over the Great Lakes and extend into parts of Ohio, upstate New York and Pennsylvania through Sunday. Most of this precipitation will likely be in the form of rain or perhaps a mix of snow and wet rain. No major travel problems are expected as a result of this activity, except perhaps in parts of central and northern New York, where a small accumulation of fluid cannot be ruled out.
Mr. Heat Scrooge and Mr. Snow Scrooge, cartoon characters from the 1974 Christmas special, A year without Santa Clauswill compete in the coming days for the United States
Given the warming temperatures from the Mississippi Valley to the Northeast and the snow extending over the interior West, it's unlikely that many residents of the Lower 48 states will have a white Christmas this year.
As of Friday, only 13.2% of the contiguous United States was covered in snow, and the country is headed toward a record low by Dec. 25, according to the National Weather Service.
This year could be one of the, or perhaps the least white, Christmases ever.
In parts of the Inland Northeast, where there is still some hope, that chance depends on existing snow cover remaining from snow showers early this week. This snow will continue to melt every day on Christmas.
In parts of the Southern High Plains into the upper Midwest, there is a possibility that the end of a large storm will sweep in cold air that catches up with remaining moisture to allow a little snow to fall on Christmas Day. However, this is an exaggeration, and the odds of this happening from the Texas Panhandle to northern Michigan are slim. The best chance for this to happen will be from central and eastern Kansas into eastern Nebraska and far northwest Missouri.
This map shows the amount of snow on the ground across the lower 48 United States as of December 22, 2023. (National Weather Service)
Duluth, Minn., which has a 92% historical average for a white Christmas, had just an inch of snow on the ground at the airport on Wednesday and is expected to lose it this week, AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said. “. “There is not expected to be any snow on the ground in Duluth on the morning of December 25, 2023, joining 2006 and 1979 as the only other ‘Green Christmases’ in the station’s 70-year history.”
Your best bet for seeing natural snow on the ground on Christmas morning will be over the Intermountain West from the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and higher elevations of the Cascades to the Rockies and adjacent high plains.
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