Another round of dangerous thunderstorms will sweep eastward across a large portion of the United States in the coming days, and this storm system will be accompanied by something that we may not have expected to hear about again until next winter -- a swath of accumulating snow.
The thunderstorms will pound areas that have been hit hard by severe weather during
what's been a very stormy month, spreading from the Plains on Thursday to the Southeast on Saturday. The snow will fall from the northern Rockies to the upper Midwest, with the chance for some late-season snow in parts of the interior Northeast over the weekend.
The most likely location to receive a disruptive amount of snow -- locally over 6 inches -- will be in western and central South Dakota from later Thursday through Friday, where the National Weather Service has issued
winter storm watches. The snow will accumulate more on unpaved surfaces than on roadways; however, travel will be disrupted, especially at night. The snow will be accompanied by winds that will reduce visibilities to under a half-mile.
The snow will begin today and tonight in an area where late-season snow is not uncommon -- the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. Depending on the path of the storm, a second area of wet snow might develop in the higher elevations of upstate New York and New England later in the weekend.
Comment: "Rare" sun halos appear to be on increase, lately. And there is a "dustier" reason for it than shiny ice crystals. Take a look at the following articles:
Have You Seen a Sun Halo in Your Area? North Carolina, US: Solar halo continues this afternoon...
Are Ice Crystals Really to Blame? US: Halo Appears Around The Sun Over The Central Savannah River Area
Not rare anymore! India: Beholding Sun god with halo around
Spectacular sundogs and ice halo seen from Stockholm
Ghana: Halo Appears Around Sun
Swaziland: Panic Over Sun's Strange Appearance
Mysterious Sun Haloes
Our hypothesis is, that the sun is being refracted by the changed atmosphere. That is, a combination of possible comet dust loading and changes in the layers of the atmosphere.