I'm back this morning after a few days off and -- wow! -- what an impressive storm that continues to spin along the US/Canadian border this morning. Low pressure is around 960 mb right now (remember, this storm has already set a record for the lowest pressure observed over the continental United States in a non-tropical cyclone) located just north of the border. As the massive storm works colder air into the US on its western side, snow is falling this morning across parts of the Dakotas (could be quite a bit of it by day's end!).
This storm is also having an interesting effect on flights across parts of the United States, with jet stream level wind in excess of 150 knots! I left Las Vegas last night at about 3 AM Eastern time and arrived in Atlanta just before 6 AM Eastern! That means a flight that usually takes around 4 hours was cut down by about an hour with a ripping tail wind from the west! I'd imagine flights headed west are having the opposite effect on them, depending on the route.
Brian
