High winds to roar from Rockies to Northeast as clipper storm brings snow to northern tier; plus, Nine states had their warmest winter ever recorded

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Well winter will make a comeback during the second half of this week as a fast-moving

clipper storm unleashes gusty winds and areas of snow from Montana and Idaho to Michigan

and New York. At the same time, parts of the central U.S. will face an elevated to high

wildfire risk. The clipper storm will follow an outbreak of severe weather over the central

and eastern states that will mark an end to surging warmth and record challenging high temperatures.

The storm will race eastward Thursday and Friday along the boundary separating cool air

in the northern U.S. and much colder Arctic air building in Canada. Due to the storm's intensity,

a broad zone of strong wind gusts may topple trees down power lines, trigger rollovers of high

profile vehicles and cause property damage. Flying debris will be a concern, any unsecured

objects such as trash cans, animal food bins, outdoor furniture could become projectiles.

Powerful wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour with an acuether local storm max of 115 miles per

hour are possible from northern Idaho and northwestern Montana to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

A much broader area of 40 to 60 mile per hour gusts will extend eastward to Indiana, Ohio,

and southern Michigan. Acuethers Brandon Buckingham said that gusty winds dry air,

parched vegetation, warmth, and sunshine will combine to significantly raise the wildfire risk

across a large part of the plains and the eastern slopes of the Rockies. Rain and snow have been

scarce in this region during the winter. The fire risk will be especially high in areas where

seasonal green up has not yet occurred, including much of the Nebraska Panhandle and areas near

Cheyenne, Wyoming. As the potent clipper storm races eastward, the zone of gusty winds will shift

across the Midwest and into parts of the northeast on Friday, a ribbon of wind gusts up to 60 miles per

hour with an acuether local storm max of 70 will be possible along portions of interstates 70 and 80.

The greatest danger of strong cross winds will be along north south interstate highways,

including interstates 55, 57, 65, 69, 75, 77, and 79. Power outages are likely as large tree limbs

break or hold trees come crashing down. Be sure to keep cell phones charged, a portable generator

may be needed for more lengthy outages. North of the storms center, a 1500 mile long swath of

accumulating snow will quickly spread eastward from Thursday into Friday night. Many areas from

North Dakota to northeastern New York and northern Maine will receive one to three inches of snow.

The zone most likely to receive six to 12 inches will encompass much of northern Michigan.

Acuethers Matt Benz said that brief periodic blizzard conditions may develop in some areas as a result.

The area most likely to have a sustained true blizzard is over Michigan's upper peninsula.

An even stronger storm with potentially heavier snow will affect the Great Lakes region later this

weekend. That upcoming storm will bring a blast of Arctic air from the Midwest to the northeast

during the first part of next week. Well, despite winter re-emerging for a lot of folks in the U.S.,

winter barely showed up the way it usually does for millions of people from Oregon to Texas this

season. Nine states logged their warmest meteorological winter on record to find as December

first through the end of February. These states are agreed upon by meteorologists for record

keeping and comparison purposes, but the historical average dates of the lowest temperatures varies

from city to city. Noah's National Centers for Environmental Information, which has records

dating back to 1895, said this winter was the warmest in Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming,

Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Another five states experienced their second warmest meteorological

winter on record, those being Montana, Idaho, California, Nebraska, and Kansas. Dozens of cities had

their warmest winters on record, including Riverton, Wyoming, with a seasonal average of 32.2 degrees.

That's 13.5 degrees above the historical average for that city, and Bozeman, Montana,

at 35.9, which is 10.9 degrees above average. Denver was also likely the warmest, though records

there go back only 31 years. Contrasting that in the eastern U.S., it was colder than the historical

average in most states away from the Gulf Coast, though not as extreme as in the West. Delaware,

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland ranked in the top 35 coldest winters. For the entire

continental U.S., winter ranked as the second warmest, and it was the driest in 45 years. West

of the plains, snowfall ranged from zero to 50 percent of the 18-year historical average,

according to Noah's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center,

unusual snowfall in the southeast created a strip of 150 to 500 percent from the Florida

Panhandle through eastern Georgia and the Carolinas. The snowpack, or water in snow on the ground in

the western U.S. hit record lows, almost every day this winter, and has generated worries about

the water supply. Ski resorts were also hit hard with a lack of snow, with veils saying it was a

worst-case weather scenario. Snowfall was above historical averages across the core of the Midwest,

including Michigan, Southern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and across much of the northeast,

excluding Maine and Maryland. Many New England ski areas and I-95 residents got a lot more snow

than the historical average. That's all for now. You can find more regional forecasts and science

based articles at acuether.com and for your local forecast at your fingertips download the Acuether

app. Enjoy the rest of your day, be weather aware, and I'll be back tomorrow with more from Acuether.