Severe Thunderstorm and Heavy Rainfall Threat Tonight; Heat Continues on Tuesday Across the Eastern U.S.

Severe weather and flash flooding threats continue across the Central Plains and Midwest into tonight. Very large hail, strong tornadoes and damaging winds are expected. An early season heat wave will continue to challenge temperature records across the eastern U.S. through Wednesday. Read More >

Storm Summary

A deeply occluded surface storm, which tracked nearly due north from the Ohio River Valley on Sunday December 29, then moved into Michigan on the 30th during the morning hours. As the deep surface low tracked north toward northern Lake Michigan it, in combination with an equally deep upper level system brought in enough cold air to turn the rain that was falling to lake enhanced snow showers by late afternoon. Snow was aided considerably by moisture enhancement from Lake Michigan. Since the storm was fairly deep, 989 mb at 2 pm on the 30th, in combination with the 1033 mb high over Colorado, caused gusty southwest winds that gusted to near 40 mph at times Monday evening into Tuesday morning. The combination of snow and blowing snow caused hazardous travel conditions to develop from the late evening hours of the 30th into the 31st.