While some are seeing gentle snowflakes and feeling a brutal combination of cold temperatures and gusty winds, as cold air from the north meets a swirl of moist air from the southeast.
Here's what's happening. Earlier on Thursday, cold, dry air from Canada raced southward along the front range at the same time that a low pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska was moving across northern New Mexico. As I've mentioned in a few of these posts, to make or intensify a storm, lift air...and two of the most effective ways to lift air are to 1) Bring in a cold front and 2) move a low pressure system across northern New Mexico, producing southeasterly winds. It's been a one-two punch....but wait, there's more.
There's another part to this storm system. (In weather, we learn to think of the atmosphere in 3-dimensions)...and part #3 is a low-pressure system 20,000 feet in the air and currently in the 4-corners area.
These upper lows can be big storm generators as well, so the storm won't be over until it has moved out of the area as well. (By the way, for students of meteorology, it's a 500 millibar low).
Its current timeline puts it near Albuquerque by noon on Friday, then rapidly into the Texas Panhandle. As a result, while the morning still looks rough for most of us, weather conditions will improve from northwest to southeast during the day, with blizzard conditions lingering the longest over the southeastern Plains.
Having experienced the storm's effect on the freeway, my best advice to you (and for free, too
See you on the other side of this one!
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