More West Coast storminess and Great Lakes snow

Happy New Year! In addition to the excitement of 2026 arriving, we’re also entering The Weather Retort’s second year, following my unannounced break for the holidays. I’ve got a big thing in the works for the months ahead that D.C. locals may find of particular interest, which I’ll share more about in the future. Weather is still always on the mind.

Weather watch

New storms target the West Coast. Only a week or so removed from the Christmas week atmospheric rivers, and following New Year’s Day flooding around Los Angeles, a new series of storms is targeting California and the western United States. It begins to hit northern California and the Pacific Northwest on Friday, then shifts south to get all of the Golden State this weekend. Parts of California are under a Level 2 of 4 flood risk Saturday, including in the Southland. Heavy snow will also clobber the highest mountains — the Sierra Nevada is expecting feet of additional cement Saturday and Sunday alone.

More snow. Snow keeps on coming in the Great Lakes and broader parts of the Midwest to Northeast as clipper systems and new batches of cold air slide by. Lake effect snow warnings continue east of lakes Erie and Ontario, for 6-18 inches or so of snow through Saturday. Syracuse has picked up 34.2 inches of snow since the day after Christmas, including a second most in one day 24.2 inches on Dec. 30.

Lightning links

Buffalo Bills call on fans to shovel snow ahead of stadium's final regular season game. (WHAM)

80 inches of snow in Juneau, Alaska, smashes record, sinks boats. (Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather)

The 10 Strangest Things We Saw In 2025's Weather. (Jonathan Erdman, The Weather Channel)

About

Weekday MWF morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

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