Breakfast Brief: Autumn spreads into West too

Breakfast Brief
Autumn spreads into West too

After a long-range hiatus, autumn has decided to chill out across the West and East today. Unseasonably cold temperatures are on tap, with large parts of the central U.S. waking up to the season's first freeze.

After a quiet September, the autumn parade of Pacific storms are starting to take share, at least for the Northwest. One wave that arrived late Tuesday will bring some rain to the Cascades and the Intermountain West before losing some of it potency later today. As the WeatherRadar shows, a second wave pushes ashore, bringing rain to Seattle and Portland. A few wet snow flakes will fall over the Cascades.

On this day!

In 20o7, a dust storm hit the high desert north of Los Angeles. Highway pileups caused 2 deaths and 16 injuries.

A second front lining up across Florida and just off the Southeast Coast will bring a few showers to the Outer Banks and Florida's while a stubborn upper-level low situated over Canada will spin just enough energy to touch off a few showers in the Northeast. These are viewable in the WeatherRadar here.

Both the West and East coasts, will feel-like autumn too. After a frosty start across the Midwest, central Mississippi Valley and the Appalachians with below freezing temperatures showing up on the TemperatureRadar. Afternoon temperatures will be slow to recover with highs in Chicago , Washington, D.C., New York and Boston barely reaching into the middle to upper 50s.

Even with autumn's inroads, the central Plains, Rockies and Southwest will be hot once again.

The warmest spots will be the Southwest, with Las Vegas and Phoenix hitting the 90s. Not too far behind will be the Rockies, western high Plains and Great Basin. where highs will be in the 80s. Bountiful sunshine and gusty southwest winds will make it feel much drier. A few showers will be possible across the southern Rockies.

Tropical update:

In the tropics, a tropical disturbance in the central Atlantic continues to be watched for additional development. It could develop into a depression as it approaches the Greater Antilles later this week.

Along the western Caribbean coastline, a low-pressure area will develop and could move towards Central America. This will be a major rainmaker for them.