Winter Storm Jasper caused snow and ice to fall in some areas of the Carolinas, Virginia, Deep South Texas, and the northern Gulf Coast, which included far western Florida.
The Weather Channel gave this system the moniker Winter Storm Jasper.
Late in January, a series of atmospheric disturbances known as Jasper rode a slowly moving cold front that covered the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
On January 20, a combination of snow, freezing rain, and sleet occurred across central and southern Texas, including the metropolitan regions of San Antonio and Austin. In the Houston metro region and close to Corpus Christi, sleet was reported.
Less than 48 hours after temperatures in the Rio Grande Valley reached 90 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in the country on January 19, a sheen of ice in trees was reportedly observed just north of Brownsville, Texas, on Friday morning.
Early on January 21st, elevated surfaces in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and portions of the metro area of Mobile, Alabama, reported light icing. In Crestview, in the extreme west of the Florida Panhandle, there was a brief period of sleet mixed with rain.
Deeply Said
The Weather Channel only names winter storms when they meet tight requirements.
Last winter saw 24 named storms, including two in October.
The Weather Channel has named winter storms for the upcoming 2022-2023 season for the tenth time.
The names will be used in alphabetical order to distinguish winter storms based on National Weather Service winter storm alerts, blizzard warnings, and ice storm warnings that match objective naming requirements.
Names of winter storms are not included on the National Hurricane Center’s lists of active or retired hurricanes for the next six years in the Atlantic or the eastern Pacific (those particularly deadly, destructive and historic).
A winter storm’s name is determined by whether it meets, or is expected to satisfy, at least one of the following requirements:
- NWS advisories for ice storms, blizzards, or winter storms that affect at least 2 million people.
- NWS advisories for winter storms, blizzards, or ice storms affecting at least 400,000 square kilometres of land, about equivalent to the size of Montana.
Storms that are expected to prompt NWS advisories over a significantly greater population and/or territory, such the Winter Storm Uri in the West, South, and Northeast in February 2022, are often named well in advance.
Snowstorms with lake effects are not given names, and any warnings that include lake effects are not taken into account when naming a winter storm.
Consistent Storm Count
Due to a lack of snow and cold in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and some areas of the Midwest, the number of named winter storms has been stable using these criteria, ranging from a maximum of 26 storms in 2013–14 to only 19 storms in 2019–20.
In three of the previous four seasons—including the current one, 2018–22, and 2017–18—there were 24 named winter storms.
Season Has Already Started
From the first few days of October to the beginning of December 2022, the first winter storm has been called each of the previous nine seasons.
The two previous Octobers saw the formation of two named storms (2010 and 2021).
Winter Storm Abigail in October 2021 dumped the most snow thus early in the fall in Minneapolis-St. Paul and St. Cloud, Minnesota. That was followed by Winter Storm Billy, the first ice storm in Oklahoma history, roughly a week later.
The last snow storm of the season has been predicted to develop between mid-March and mid-May.
After Winter Storm Xylia pounded the High Plains with feet of snow in the middle of March 2022, the storm that ended the 2022–23 season occurred at the earliest time ever.
From the second half of January through February, winter storms have most frequently met the requirements for naming.