Two drastically different weather extremes occurred this Christmas weekend throughout the United States.
Texans and visitors in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex celebrated Christmas on Saturday with high temperatures just above 80 degrees. The evening brought temperatures in the 70’s with a 1-percent chance of rain.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, 1,500 miles north, in Malta, Montana, a different Christmas Story was being experienced. The temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit at 6 p.m. with wind chills that made it feel like -30 degrees.
The National Weather Service also predicted single-digit temperatures in Oregon and Washington State due to winter storms. Officials urged residents to pay attention to warnings about dangerous road conditions and prepare for the cold.
Forecasters predicted a chilly weekend in the Pacific Northwest, where holiday travel could be hampered by storms that have blanketed the mountains in snow.
“As an approaching storm system strengthens and approaches from the west, snow will begin to cover the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest by Sunday afternoon.” According to the Weather Service’s Short Range Public Discussion. “Anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow could fall in eastern North Dakota on Sunday night and into Monday morning. On Sunday night, parts of northern Minnesota could get up to 6 inches of snow, while isolated parts of Minnesota’s Lake Superior coast could get over a foot of snow on Monday.
In Texas, the weather also brings “potentially dangerous” dry conditions and high winds that could lead to fires, the National Weather Service said.
“The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Critical Risk of Fire Weather for southwest Kansas, southeast Colorado, and portions of both the Oklahoma and northern Texas Panhandles due to a combination of windy, dry, and continuing warm conditions,” The Short Range Public Discussion Weather Service announced over the holiday weekend.
As highs in Texas and Oklahoma reach the 80’s, much of the South remains unusually warm. Sunday’s warmest average temperatures will be found in northern Texas and southern Kansas, where temperatures will be 25-35 degrees above normal. Winds will also pick up as a cold front passes through the High Plains.
