Gosh, it's heartbreaking, depressing, scary & disturbing watching all the videos coming out of southern California. Worse yet, just as all Gulf coastal locations have an insurance crisis caused by hurricanes, so does SOCAL because of wildfires & earthquakes. Seems every part of the country has weather disaster issues with insurance companies increasing premiums and/or dropping coverage all together. Maybe it's time for National Catastrophe Insurance? Let's drop the current National Flood Insurance program that has gotten ridiculously expensive, and expand it to cover all natural disasters. (Tornadoes, Earthquakes, fires, floods & hurricanes) This is not an original idea. But seeing thousands (Yes, that's correct) of homes totally gone, perhaps America's will change? It can be done. Anytime you see smoke from space, you know it's a huge fire.
Unlike the Paradise fire several years ago (85 dead), these fires consumed entire populated neighborhoods. After seeing the damage videos, it's stunning that the death toll is not greater.
In all of the stories I've read or watched, none talked about what started the fires? Was it a tossed cigarette? Winds downing a power line creating sparks? A car with a bad catalytic converter igniting the underbrush? NWS issued a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) the day before for extremely strong winds, yet fires started. How? Oh well, let's focus back on our weather.
The well advertised southern storm is taking shape with heavy snow to the north, heavy showers to the south and sleet & freezing rain in between. My middle son (Ryan) lives in Edmond, Oklahoma and sent these picture of the volleyball court behind him.
The view looks pretty today, but it's made traveling a nightmare.
This is a heavy, wet snow that will cross Arkansas into Tennessee tonight. Birmingham & Atlanta could see some white on the ground as the disturbance races out of New Mexico. We could briefly jump into the warm air sector overnight before cooling down during the day on Friday.
Since we are not expecting any freezing temps for awhile, I've moved my plants back outside so they can get a good soaking tonight. Friday's morning drive could be difficult, but all rainfall should be gone before noon time. Finally, the A.P. is doing it again in today's paper.
The real Polar Vortex is up over the polar regions. The storm over New Mexico is NOT the Polar Vortex. This disturbance came in from the PACIFIC 2 days ago and is the system that caused the high Santa Ana winds in southern California. I guess their motto is "never let facts get in the way of a good story"!
The Polar Vortex brings bitter, record-cold temperatures. As you can see, nationwide, it's January cold. The sub-zero chill has retreated back into Canada. Polar Vortex in Texas? I don't think so! And this just in...
My youngest son (Justin) also lives in Edmond and took these pictures. Note, with air temperatures around 32, roads/sidewalks are just wet. Someday NOLA will have these scenes, but not this week! Stay tuned!
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