When this storm is over, the West won’t get much of a break, as another burst is likely to follow, probably starting around Sunday (exact time TBD). Here are all the details. Stay dry and batten down the hatches, friends in the West!

What We’re Tracking

This Caught My Eye

We’ve reached the end of January. Another winter month is about to be in the books. Having watched the nation’s weather now for over 27 years, it still fascinates me how a given winter can produce such sharp contrasts of snow haves and have-nots.

Earlier this week, Anchorage, Alaska, topped 100 inches of seasonal snowfall, the fastest they reached the century mark in 70 years of records in what one city school teacher called a “pandemic of snow.” Minneapolis-St. Paul, however, managed only 7 inches of snowfall all season, their least snowy season-to-date in 43 years. That’s almost 4 feet less snowfall than last season through late January. By one metric, it’s the Twin Cities’ “least miserable” start to any winter since 1950, if you prefer less snow and cold.

Alaska’s typical siege of Pacific storms has been particularly relentless from late fall through winter. However, following the nation’s record warmest December, a colder stretch in mid-January pushed the storm track south of Minnesota. And this recent January thaw has pushed temperatures as high as 50 degrees in the Twin Cities, wiping out whatever snow was left on the ground. It’s a classic El Niño fingerprint on winter in this part of the upper Midwest.

There’s also an Alaska location that was recently snow buried, but now snowless. Following an epic 70 inches of snowfall this month, Juneau just melted its entire 3 feet of snowpack in just four days, due to a soaking storm last weekend and warmer weather.

It will be interesting to see how snowfall the rest of the season ends up as we head into February, then spring.

Trending

• 🛩️ Amelia Earhart’s plane found? New imagery may solve mystery.
• ☃️ Mexico steals show at snow sculpture championships.
• 🦬 Massive bison slips on Yellowstone ice.

Weather Words

‘Atmospheric River’

The term “atmospheric river” was first used in a 1994 study, and is now widely used by meteorologists. On average, there are four or five active ARs on Earth at one time. They transport a mind-boggling amount of water: a 1998 MIT study estimated the moisture flux of an AR to be roughly the same as that of the Amazon River, about 176,000 tons per second.

#OTD

The snow halted trains, canceled school and kept people from their work for days. On Seattle’s First Hill, the weight of heavy snow caused the dome of the St. James Cathedral to collapse into the building’s narthex.

Your Daily Nugget Of Good

The winners took only 5.74 seconds, good enough to win this year, but not fast enough to beat the record of 4.91 seconds. A beach chair rental company invented the race as a cold season spectacle for tourists. The first championship was held in 2007.