As expected...a lot of severe weather around the area Tue. afternoon & early evening with about 115 severe reports for the day over the Southeast. Every county in our viewing area was under a warning at one time or another. At least 2, as of yet, unconfirmed tornadoes -- near I-10 west of Macclenny & in Waldo (south of Starke) where at least 6 structures had some damage. Below are a few photos from Louis Lowentritt where a tree fell on a business in Mandarin causing some damage & a leak in their roof:
The story now will be the unseasonable cold. There's been snow in a good part of Tennessee & there will be flurries as far south as Atlanta by early Wed. Snowfall of at least several inches will occur in the Appalachians of Eastern Ky., Tn., & the Western Carolinas. For the First Coast...we'll have lots of sun Wed. but northwest winds will howl at 15-25 mph with higher gusts & afternoon temps. will just make it into the 50s. Ironically Feb. 26th is the avg. last date for a freeze at JIA (meaning 50% of the time it's before Feb. 26th & 50% of the time it's after the 26th -- remember it's just a statistic!!), but we should see a widespread freeze Thu. morning with lows in the mid 20s to low 30s. With northwest winds, even the beaches should fall to at least the mid 30s with a brief freeze possible in a few spots. Areas down wind from the northwest breeze along the St. Johns River will be a few degrees higher. Thu. will be another chilly day with afternoon highs only in the 50s but
winds will be lighter setting up much of the interior for some frost early Fri. though surface winds will become onshore/from the east which will keep the beaches & most areas to at least I-95 a little milder.
Helping "refrigerate" the airmass over the Southeast is the fact that winds will be blowing off a wide expanse of snow cover across a good portion of the Northern U.S. See the map below from the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center(!):
And that brings me to an interesting article ("Forget Global Warming: Welcome to the New Ice Age") from the National Post forwarded to me. See this link. We must keep in mind that it is important to see both sides of the isle & the broad picture when it comes to our climate.
