Breakfast Brief: Winter knocks on Rockies door

Breakfast Brief
Winter knocks on Rockies door

The season's first big Winter storm will roll across the Mountain West, bringing significant snow to ski resorts. A quiet Friday settles across the East.

A strong cold front making its way across the Mountain West is bringing heavy rain and mountain snow from the eastern Great Basin into the Wasatch Range and the central Rockies. Elevations above 5,000 feet will become snowcapped, causing travel headaches between Salt Lake City and Denver.

The front has brought rain as far south as the Grand Canyon, with a gusty shower possible in Las Vegas. Big temperature changes will accompany the front with highs in Phoenix and interior southern California struggling to get out of the 70s. Gusty winds in excess of 35 mph, as seen as WindRadar, will kick up the dust throughout the Southwest and Great Basin.

Across the rest of the West, it will definitely feel-like autumn. The Intermountain West, Cascades and Sierras will be in the 40s and 50s this afternoon while the West Coast will be in the 60s.

2007 Indiana tornado

On this day in 2007, rural Indiana was hit be an rare autumn EF3 tornado. The tornado damaged more than 100 structures along a 20 mile path. Luckily, only minor injuries were reported.

East of the Rockies, a few showers will roll across the Texas Panhandles and the Dakotas. Otherwise, it will be a sun-filled Friday.

The TemperatureRadar shows the Plains being in the 70s with a gusty southeast wind increasing the chance for wildfires and localized power outages.

The Midwest, South and East Coast remains unseasonably chilly with highs being in the upper 60s. Even Florida will be a bit chilly with low to middle 70s.

Tropical update:

There are still two areas of tropical weather being watched as the week closes out. The first one is located in the central Atlantic system northeast of the Leeward Islands. Conditions remain marginal for significant development, but it could bring downpours to the Greater Antilles this weekend.

Along the western Caribbean coastline, a low-pressure area continues to edge closer to the Central American coast and could become a tropical depression before moving into Central America. If it stays over water, slow development is possible. This remains a major rainmaker along Central America's Caribbean coastline.