“Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth.

Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.”

Ray Bradbury,

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Gigantic moisture-laden winter storms,

From the north, the south, and the west,

Are now beginning to ravage the country,

And once again putting our mettle to the test.

If the advanced weather computer system models,

Of the U.S. Climate Prediction Center are correct,

We will soon be experiencing ‘A Terrible Trio,’

That will be the worst scenario in a long time yet.

Flooding, avalanches, and mudslides,

From the western ‘Pineapple Express,’

Heavy snow and ice from the frigid Arctic,

Will be blanketing the Pacific Northwest.

Warm moist air will also likely be arriving,

From the extremely warm moist Gulf of Mexico;

The southland could encounter heavy flooding,

And even very unusual winter-time tornadoes.

These three storm systems are most likely,

To eventually converge in America’s Midwest;

Could we truly be nearing the prophetic End Days,

Or is this just another of Nature’s Wicked Tests?

A new monster storm pattern is quickly emerging that has a little bit of everything.

Snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain are already creating dangerous conditions from the Southwest to the Northeast.  Flooding is also a threat in saturated areas from Texas to Ohio.

A huge storm spread a smear of ice and snow from the Rockies to the Northeast coastline on Wednesday, snarling highway and airline traffic, causing record-low temperatures in the Midwest, and snapping power lines serving tens of thousands of people.

The snow, sleet, and freezing rain are part of a mass of cold air that dropped the temperature to a Jan. 5th record low of 39 below zero in Grand Forks, N.D.  Embarrass, Minnesota hit 43 below, the National Weather Service said.

School closings were reported from New Mexico to New Jersey, and hundreds of travelers were stranded across the country.  One hundred thousand people in Indiana are currently without electrical power.

The National Weather Service, in its weekly ‘hazards assessment,’ alerted meteorologists and disaster specialists yesterday that flooding, snow storms, and extremely frigid weather could stretch into early next week, if not longer.

"It's a situation that looks pretty potent," said the Climate Prediction Center's operations chief. "A large part of North America looks like it's going to be affected."

The three converging storms are being steered by high-pressure ridges off Alaska and Florida, and are part of a change in world climate conditions, he said.

Over equatorial Indonesia, east of where the devastating gigantic tsunami hit Dec. 26th, meteorologists have identified a weather-making phenomenon called the Madden-Julian Oscillation.  It's producing extraordinarily stormy weather to its east.

Similar oscillations in the north Atlantic and the north Pacific are also quickly changing global weather patterns.

The total number of tornadoes reported in the United States reached a record high during the year 2004, surpassing the previous record by almost 300.

The 2004 hurricane season was one of the worst on record, with 16 named storms, and six major hurricanes.

The updated outlook for the 2005 hurricane season indicates a 45% probability of another above-normal season.

Are the world’s weather patterns permanently changing for the worse?  And what will Mother Nature have in store for us next?

Right now, I’m off to shovel snow – 10 inches fell overnight here – and my two mutts are ecstatic – they don’t have to shovel.