Aritra's Daily Weather

[aritramweather]

US Weather Update - 1/19/25

Winter is kicking into high gear across most of the US, with a frigid arctic blast making its way across the central and eastern lower 48, bringing the coldest temperatures of the season to widespread areas. Areas of the plains have seen a dramatic plunge in temps over the past 48 hours, leading to extreme cold warnings and wind chill temps as low as -50 Fahrenheit in the Dakotas and Minnesota. By tomorrow, far below average temperatures (upwards of 30+ degrees below average) will have overtaken most of the eastern 2/3 of the US. At the same time, Winter Storm Demi is hitting the northeast at the time of posting, bringing snow to the I-95 corridor and nasty weather to the Divisional Playoff NFL games. Anywhere between 2 to 6 inches is forecast throughout most of the urban areas in the northeast, with slightly more inland away from the coast. The bigger story, however, will be Winter Storm Enzo, which will bring significant accumulating snow to the Deep South in the coming days, even to areas that haven't seen snow in decades! 2-3 inches is possible around Houston, 5-8 in central Louisiana and 3-4 on the Northern Gulf Coast from New Orleans, to Mobile, and even all the way to Pensacola and Tallahassee. Parts of North Florida could see a very significant ice event, including areas like Lake City and Gainesville! Then the snow will head up the Carolina Coast. Keep in mind this storm will be mostly a Deep South and Southeast event, with locations inland like Northern Louisiana, Northern Mississippi, Northern Alabama, Northern Georgia, and inland Carolinas mostly missing out. Temperatures will be very cold with highs bottoming out in the 20s and lows in the teens in many places. Here is the forecasted totals map from Weather.com.

For the west, things are pretty quiet, but Santa Ana winds in southern California will start again from tomorrow, elevating fire conditions to extreme in certain areas, which is horrible news for an area already ravaged by fires and in worsening drought during a typically wet time of year.

[aritramweather]

US Weather Update - 1/16/25

There's plenty going on around the US in regards to the weather. Currently as it stands, the predominant US weather is pattern favoring warmer temperatures and drier conditions in the west and cold in the plains and the east, which is only expected to worsen heading into the weekend and next week as a severe arctic blast is forecasted to bring some of the coldest temperatures of the winter to many areas. Along with the cold, winter storm risks increase for portions of the deep south and southeast US next week, with many models hinting at potentially significant ice and snow accumulations in areas that haven't seen it in years! In Southern California, where I live, warm, dry weather and persistent Santa Ana winds have been plaguing the region, leading to the LA wildfires last week and rapidly worsening drought conditions in the absence of significant rainfall this season. No accumulating rain is in the forecast for at least a week, and winds may return next week, which is very bad news. Prayers to those who have been affected by the fires.

The CA drought map above, which updated today, now shows widespread severe drought in Southern California, which will only intensify without any rainfall. San Diego is seeing the driest rain season to date (since October 1) on record, leading to record dry vegetation and high fire danger even in the absence of wind.

[aritramweather]

Tropical Update- 6/14/21

The US might have its first tropical cyclone of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season make landfall at the end of the week, heading into the weekend of June 19-20. Currently, the national hurricane center is monitoring an area of shower and thunderstorm activity associated with a broad area of low pressure in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. This low pressure system should move north and gradually develop, likely becoming a tropical depression toward the end of the workweek in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Waters are plenty warm in the area, hovering around 84 degrees. Wind shear may limit some development though. The system currently has a 70% chance to become a tropical cyclone within 5 days, which is a pretty high likelihood. Down the line, portions of Louisiana and Texas may start seeing impacts from a tropical depression or low-grade tropical storm, depending on what happens. Elsewhere, we have tropical depression 2 hanging out east of North Carolina and Virginia, in the Atlantic. This is expected to become a tropical storm briefly while heading quickly into cooler waters by the end of the week. Finally, there is a tropical wave in the Eastern Atlantic that has a 20% chance of developing into a cyclone within 5 days, before dry air and shear rip it apart. We shall keep checking for updates in the coming days for all three systems. 

[aritramweather]

Great News!

A change in the overall weather pattern in the US this weekend will allow rain from a low pressure system to enter California. This will bring much needed rain to the west, which has been badly hit by a drought. Most parts of California should see less than an inch of rain, though some of the coastal foothills may see closer to 1.5 inches by early next week. 

[aritramweather]

CDC Announcement

Today, the CDC announced that the variant of Covid-19 first found in the UK has become dominant in the US. This is likely one factor leading to a slight increase in US Covid cases over the past couple of weeks. The variant is more contagious and possibly more deadly. However, 33% of the US population has gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. This should help beat back the surge of cases. 

[aritramweather]

US Covid Vaccination Update

Today, the US reported another 3 million vaccine doses administered in the past 24 hours. Data on US Covid vaccinations can be found on the CDC website. According to the current tallies, 28.2% of the US population has been vaccinated with at least one dose. This translates to 93.3 million people. 36.2% of the adult population has been vaccinated with at least one dose. The best part is that 72.4% of the entire senior population has been vaccinated with at least one dose (39.5 million people). If the current trends continue, the US will see vaccinations reach the herd immunity threshold (around 70%) by sometime within summer 2021. Vaccinations will probably reduce the effects of the 4th covid surge which is just starting to build, especially by May and June. 

[aritramweather]

Today I found out that USA’s covid infections are again on the rise. Some states like Michigan are experiencing a surge and this bothers me.