Northwest

Weather Underground midday recap for Sunday, November 15, 2009.

A fairly active patch of weather developed in the central regions of the nation as low pressure progressed eastward toward the Central Plains today. The system carried a long, energetic front that became stretched from the Southern Plains through the Great Lakes. Rich moisture from the Gulf of Mexico mingled with energy associated with this disturbance to produce significant precipitation along the front. The strongest patches of rainfall were accompanied by a few isolated thunderstorms and developed from the eastern portions of Oklahoma and Kansas through central Illinois. Light to moderate snow and areas of fog continued to blanket eastern Colorado and western Kansas through the afternoon. Much of eastern Colorado remained under a Winter Storm Warning due to persistent snowfall across this region.

Meanwhile, clear and quiet weather returned to the eastern third of the nation as high pressure built back into the region.

Out West, low to mid-level clouds moved into the Pacific Northwest today as the first of a series of disturbances approached the Pacific Northwest coast. Strong onshore winds ushered abundant moisture into the region, translating into scattered rainfall and high elevation snowfall. Elsewhere, clearer and drier conditions developed in California and much of the Central Great Basin due to a building ridge of high pressure. Daytime temperatures across these regions remained on the cool side, due to overnight cooling. Offshore winds associated with this system pushed across southern California and threatened southwestern California and the California deserts with fire danger.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Sunday have ranged from a morning low of -7 degrees at Stanley, Idaho to a midday high of 87 degrees at Falfurrias, Texas.