It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

It’s a cold one in D.C. and across the country as the new/old guy returns to office and we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Folks near the Canada border are starting with temperatures around minus-35 and will stay well below zero through Tuesday. This deep cold is suppressing the jet stream way to the south. Where moisture and cold mixes — near the Gulf Coast — a rare winter storm is taking shape.

Weather watch

Deep South snowstorm. Winter storm warnings are in effect from Brownsville, Texas, through the Houston region, then eastward including New Orleans and the western Florida panhandle. Freezing rain is in the forecast for south Texas and the Florida/Georgia border area. Up to half a foot of snow is anticipated across southern Louisiana. Houston's modern record for snow is 3 inches, in Feb. 1962 — 3.6 inches is forecast there for now. Mobile, on the northern Gulf Coast, has a high mark of 5 inches in Jan 1881. They are presently expecting 2.2 inches.

A swearing in (sorta) fit for Siberia. Following a hefty coating of snow Sunday, D.C. is expecting its coldest day of winter so far as Donald Trump returns to the White House. Although the inauguration was moved indoors due to the weather, temperatures today should be relatively similar to what was seen during Barack Obama’s massive 2009 outdoor inauguration, when it was 28 at noon for the swearing in.

Extremely critical fire weather returns to southern California. It was a short break, only several days long, but fire weather is making a big comeback in the Southland. Another period of the highest-end threat is ongoing Monday through midweek. Forecasts suggest wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph will be widespread in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with gusts of 60 to 100 mph in the mountains.

In memory

The weather world lost a thought leader and a one-of-a-kind storm chaser over the weekend. Charles “Chuck” Doswell III is widely known as a pioneer in severe thunderstorm and tornado research. He not only advanced the science, but helped develop a new generation of problem solvers, all while watching amazing supercells spin across the wide-open Plains.

Monday morning weather map

The most intense Arctic onslaught of the winter has overtaken southern Canada and the United States. All but portions of the West Coast, Nevada, Arizona, immediate Gulf Coast, south Texas and Florida are near or below freezing Monday morning. With a temperature of at least minus-34 in Interntional Falls, Minn., the chilliest temperature of the season in the Lower 48 is being re-established Monday and could be again on Tuesday.

About

As a forecaster, journalist and certified weather freak (there's a badge, trust me), a big part of my job is analyzing the playing field of global weather and related climate change stories to decide which ones to spend more time on.

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