As predicted, the storm that started last week in Texas moved up the Ohio Valley on Saturday, bringing blowing snow over a foot deep in many places in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The map below shows the depth of the snow as of 3 AM on Sunday, March 9th.

Here are some total snowfall amounts for the storm:

Aurora, Indiana: 12 inches
Florence, Kentucky: 15.5 inches
Louisville, Kentucky: 14.4 inches
Williamstown, Kentucky: 16 inches
Cincinnati, Ohio: 10 inches
Columbus, Ohio: 20.4 inches
Dayton, Ohio: 13.1 inches
Broadview Heights, Ohio (near Cleveland): 21 inches
Franklin, Pennsylvania (near Erie): 14 inches

The satellite image above shows the effects of the snowfall.

You know that it’s been an unusual January when Atlanta records more snowfall than New York City. With no snow forecast for the last day of the month in either  city, Atlanta has recorded 1.4 inches of snow for the month, with most of that coming on the 19th. On the other hand, New York City recorded a trace of snow on the 27th, its only white stuff for the month.

According to an article in the New York Sun,  it’s the first time in 75 years that no measurable snow has fallen in NYC in January.  The article also quotes Weather Service officials as saying that the lack of snow in the Big Apple is due more to storm patterns tracking inland than due to global warming.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report for noticing this.

The first major winter storm of the season struck the northern third of the nation over the weekend, bringing an  ugly combination of snow, freezing rain, and rain to everywhere from Washington State to New York as a low pressure system combined with cold arctic air moved across the country.  Portions of Michigan reported up to ten inches of snow and 1/8th inch of ice from freezing rain this morning, and depending on where you were in Pennsylvania, you got from one to ten inches of snow.

Now, the storm is bearing down on New England, as you can see from the forecast map below:

The precipitation is made  much more treacherous because the freezing line runs right through the area the storm is hitting in Pennsylvania and southern New England.  The northeast is going to get a one two punch.  After the current storm moves out Monday night, a second clipper will track across the area on Wednesday.

Here in Georgia, we’ll be lucky to get half an inch of precipitation as the cold front associated with the low crosses the state overnight Sunday.  Following that, we’ll have some cooler temperatures this week before a warmup the week of the 10th, when temperatures will again rise to the mid 60s.. Don’t expect much rain during this period, though.  After tonight, we may not see rain until the second half of December.

I tuned in for Monday Night Football, only to see snow on the ground. “Is the game in Green Bay?,” I asked a friend. No, it turned out to be in Seattle, which is expecting one to three inches of snow tonight.

Poor Seattle has had more than 15 inches of rain in November through Sunday, or 256% of its normal rainfall of 5.9 inches. The situation is so bad that it made the front page of this morning’s New York Times.

The extraordinary storms have already exceeded the November record, and could exceed the all time monthly total precipitation record for the area, set back in December, 1933. Although Seattle is known for being rainy, it typically received less rainfall than Atlanta on an annual basis: the wet reputation is due to the the constant, slow drizzle throughout much of the year.

The cold Seattle weather is a preview of an Arctic blast that will affect much of the nation later this week, although it still looks like it will fall short of Atlanta.

The metro Atlanta weather in October was cooler than normal, with temperatures averaging anywhere from 1.1 degrees below normal in Atlanta to 1.4 degrees below normal in Athens. Here in Lawrenceville, the mean temperature of 59.0 degrees during the month was two degrees below the average of 61. Some areas saw an early frost, although the low temperatures were typically too warm for a hard freeze.

On the rainfall side, we had 2.95 inches of rain during the month from two rainy periods, just slightly below normal. Atlanta’s 3.01 inches was just under the normal of 3.11 inches.

Across the country, however, winter hit early, and strong. Buffalo had as much as two feet of snow on October 12th and 13th, which caused extensive problems because the leaves were still on the trees. It took over a week for the city to recover. Meanwhile, in Denver, 18 inches of blizzard-like snow on the 26th caused area ski resorts to think about opening up early.

A front will pass through the area tonight, bringing cooler than normal weather for the next few days. However, it looks like the period from the 6th through the 15th will be warmer than normal, with temperatures near 70, compared to normal highs around 66. After Election Day, we may see a wetter period than normal as well.