Extreme weather changes can affect some people’s vacation plans.
For a second consecutive week, the weather looks quite turbulent as we head to a major vacation.
A new storm system is bringing heavy rain, gale force winds and thunderstorms to Southern California on Monday and will move across the country this week.
Winter warnings from California to Wisconsin have already been issued.
It is the first major rainmaker so far this season for Southern California, where up to 2 inches of rain could fall on Monday. It can cause debris flow and flooding, especially on recent burn scars.
In the mountains of Southern California, more than a foot of snow can fall, making it dangerous to travel.
As soon as this storm moves to the Central USA by Tuesday night, it will be better organized and will move a heavy snow across the Northern Plains and the Middle East.
Snow, sometimes heavy, can fall Tuesday night through Wednesday in major Midwestern cities such as Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago and Minneapolis. Up to 8 inches of snow can fall – the heaviest is probably in central Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin.
The forecast is a bit trickier on the south side of the storm, where states are likely to experience cold rain and possible snow. It could make roads fairly slippery in parts of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma Tuesday night through early Wednesday.
By Wednesday, most of the snow from the storm will fall in Canada, but the persistent cold front will rain a wide line and bring some snow from Michigan to Texas.
Some major cities may experience sudden weather changes, and roads may become slippery Wednesday night.
If we then enthusiastically welcome the start of 2021, a new storm will move rapidly to the south and chase north and east.
This storm is likely to be even more striking, bringing a large amount of mixed rainfall from the Southern Plains to the northeast. This is likely to cause dangerous travel conditions on New Year’s Day.
At the moment it is still too early to know how much snow will fall, but it is safe to say that travel at the end of the holiday week will be treacherous.