Digging out on the Gulf Coast as bomb cyclone targets Europe

At the base of a powerful Arctic outbreak dominating the Lower 48 in recent days, a generational winter storm struck places that rarely see much snow. Up to 10-plus inches of snow accumulated along the northern Gulf Coast during the first-ever blizzard warning for parts of the region. Disturbed weather associated with that event is about to have a second life as a major storm for Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Weather Watch

Historic Gulf Coast snow. New Orleans was buried under 8 inches of the white stuff Tuesday, for the city’s biggest snow event in the modern record and the largest snow there since 1895. Snow fell Tuesday into Wednesday from coastal Texas, through the western Florida panhandle, then to the Outer Banks. As much as 11 inches fell in southern Alabama, with 10.5 inches in Lafayette La., 8 inches on the beach around Pensacola and similar in eastern North Carolina.

Storm Éowyn. Enmeshed in the frontal zone off the East Coast related to the Southern U.S. snowstorm, a bomb cyclone will rapidly develop and race across the north Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday. Ireland’s Met Éireann has a code red up for southwest parts of the country where “extremely dangerous travelling conditions” and “structural damage” are expected amid winds gusting to 80 mph. The storm will cross the country late Thursday on its way to the UK, where somewhat weaker winds around 60 mph are anticipated.

Pattern change ahead? It’s been an unusually persistent spell of cold weather much of January, particularly east of the continental divide. Widespread month-to-date temperatures of 5-to-10 degrees below normal cover most of that zone. While major warmth is not yet on the table, building upper-level high pressure near the East Coast will likely lead to some sort of thaw late month into early February.

Lightning links

Winters are getting shorter in the Great Lakes, new study reveals.

Some much-needed rain may fall on Southern California by the weekend.

Wildcard Wednesday: Less snow than New Orleans

Following Tuesday’s historic Deep South snowstorm, places that usually see no snow are far outpacing typically wintry locations. As example, for the first three weeks of the year, New Orleans at 8 inches is outpacing:

• Anchorage with 1.9 inches

• Fargo with 2.1 inches

• New York City with 3 inches

• Chicago with 3.9 inches

• Mammoth Mountain, Calif., with 5 inches

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