SnoooOklahoma...

Is this Winter Weird, or what?
We had two Tornado Warnings in Florida this afternoon.
At the same time, less than 100 miles away, still in Florida,
the NWS issued freeze watches for tonight !

8:55 AM EST Monday 2/7/2011 As Arctic air comes sweeping down the plains, we empathize with snow-weary residents of states whom have simply had enough. Places like St. Louis, MO, Little Rock, AR and Tulsa, OK have already received 150% of their seasonal snowfall. In Oklahoma City, the normal snowfall to February 4 is roughly 6 inches, but the actual has been 12.4" Details on a city-by-city report are available via this link at The Weather Channel.

Now, Winter Storm Watches are posted once again for acccumulations of 4 to 10 inches in some locations by Wednesday. Combine this next round of snowfall with another brutal Arctic chill and it makes one wonder if the rules of La Nina-like winters has been somehow altered in favor of a "new normal."

FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES: "Storm # 9" is definitely marking time and by tonight we will observe the NWS Winter Storm Watches spreading over familiar areas of Dallas, Shreveport, northern Mississippi, Memphis and over to north Georgia. Unforunately a similar round of wickedly annoying ice and snow is set to blanket these areas Wednesday into Thursday with accumulations of 0.50" of ice possible mixed with snow depending on your location.

SNOW IN THE MID-ATLANTIC? Yes and no. This system is expected to generally stay south of the region, but we cannot rule snow completely out of the forecast for areas west of the Chesapeake Bay. A detailed report on two scenarios for the Mid-Atlantic is posted in the Winter Stormcast Zone, published last night by Lead Forecasters Jason M. and Connor M.

We say "yes and no" because the areas at highest risk of accumulating snowfall should be the eastern Carolinas, the Virginia Tidewater/Hampton Roads and the southern Bayshore (southeastern MD + the Virginia peninsula). The "no" part is to say at this time, indications are less likely that accumulating snow will be observed along the I-95 corridor from Washington to Philadelphia or interior sections of WV, MD and PA. The National Weather Service rightfully so has retained a 30% chance of snow in the Thursday forecast. We concur because none of us can say with certainty 3 days in advance that snow will not occur.

After all, just from reading about the pounding received by the Midwest is enough to make some easterners rejoice to learn they might catch a break. Note we said "might." Once the system materializes more fully across the Southeast, our Winter Stormcast Team will re-investigate the climate indicators and see if any changes have occurred in our current projections.