WINTER STORM CALY SWEEPS ACROSS AMERICA …
Winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21, but a massive winter storm front is making its way across the country this week.
The storm – dubbed “Caly” – will begin its march across the United States today. In its 2,600-mile wake will be subfreezing temperatures, snow, sleet, ice, cold air and freezing rain.
Driven by a large arctic air mass, Caly will dump snow on the Pacific northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the plains, the midwest and the northeast. Meanwhile temperatures in the south will plunge – with Greenville, S.C. seeing an overnight low of 25 degrees on Friday night. Columbia, S.C. and Charleston, S.C. will see overnight lows of 26 and 31 degrees, respectively.
In Atlanta, Georgia, Friday’s overnight low will be 24 degrees. Same for Raleigh, N.C.
Winter storms have been named by the Weather Channel for the past five years – with designations bestowed on the basis of how many people live within areas placed under winter weather warnings by the National Weather Service (NWS).
If two million or more people live in such areas, the storm gets a name – although the NWS does not currently name winter storms.
For those of you keeping score at home, here are the Weather Channel’s remaining winter storm names for the winter of 2016-17: Decima, Europa, Fortis, Gregory, Helena, Iras, Jupiter, Kari, Leo, Maya, Niko, Orson, Pluto, Quid, Reggie, Stella, Theseus, Ursa, Valerie, Wyatt, Xavier, Yuri and Zeno.
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