Duh People, What Do You NOT Understand ???

I am always amazed seeing video of folks trapped at a local mall during a Tornado Watch.  Duh, don't they understand the danger they place themselves & their loved ones in?  Same too with Winter Weather issues.  We've all seen the videos of  the massive (8-10 miles+) gridlock on I-95 in Virginia last week.  What were these people thinking?  NWS accurately predicted a Winter Storm Warning (6-12"+ snowfall) well in advance, yet all these people were on the highway.  Truckers?  I can understand them since they are doing their jobs.  But for most of the other folks...get off the roads and stay put.  Well, history is repeating itself this week, just in a different spot.  The top graphic is the radar with the dark blues being the heaviest snowfall rates centered on Kentucky & Virginia.  No one, except in emergencies, should be on the roads.  However...

The other pics are courtesy of The Weather Channel showing another massive 75 car/truck pileup.  What don't people understand in this day of modern social media?  A Winter Storm Warning was in effect BEFORE the snow arrived, yet people were on the roads placing themselves in harm's way.  Don't blame government (DOT) for not clearing the roads.  Take some personal responsibility and use common sense.  Geez, no wonder forecasters get frustrated knowing you've made a great prediction but the results are often tragic.   

Note the lack of traffic on Jim Cantore's live shot from Nashville where they had 6=7".  This is not rocket science folks.  Heed the warnings from NWS whether it's Winter Storms or severe weather (tornadoes).

We almost made 80 again out ahead of the cold front.  It came through around 3 pm with a thin band of showers.   The cool down will be fast, but will not last.

The reason for that is the main storm track plows into the West Coast and streaks SE across the country.  The bitter cold (15-20 below zero) air stays over the Great Lakes and NE while we get passing glances of the Chill.  Until we see a bigger dip in the trough over the East, we will not have to deal with freezing temps. south of Lake P.    But hold the phone Clarence.  Look at these upper air maps.

The top one was from this morning showing a minor dip coming across Wisconsin & Iowa.  That is what's triggering today's snowstorm.  But look at hold much deeper and well defined that trough gets 2 weeks from now (Polar Vortex?).  IF that proves to be reality, then we'll need to be ready for some real potential pipe busting cold.   Plenty of time to watch it.

In the short term, the cold front blasts through tonight requiring sweaters and jackets on Friday.  By the core of the cold quickly retreats for Saturday and Sunday allowing us to soar back into the 70s.

That warm up will be brief as another cold front arrives late Sunday chilling us down for the first part of next week.  December may have been warm and boring, but January is proving to be a refreshingly different month.  I'm enjoying having lots to talk about.  Stay tuned!