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February’s “Snow Moon” begins on Friday and will mark the first of 4 super moons of 2020; plus more of today’s weather news, alerts, and US forecast.
The moon will appear larger and brighter than normal in what is called a “supermoon.”
The reason for this increase in size and brightness, from our perspective, is because the full moon occurs near its perigee, when the moon’s orbit puts it closest to Earth, according to the American Astronomical Society.
February’s full moon is called the “Snow Moon.” It derives its name from Native American tribes who associated the moon in February with winter weather.
This weekend’s full moon will be the first supermoon of 2020 and reaches its peak at 2:33 AM ET on Sunday, February 9, according to NASA.
The moon will continue to appear full for approximately three days at its peak, beginning on Friday evening February 7 through Monday morning February 10.
Here is today’s general weather forecast for rain, thunderstorms, mixed precipitation and snow by the National Weather Service (NWS) around the nation.
Mixed precipitation for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Snow for Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and northern and western Colorado.
Upper Midwest:
Snow for northern, western and southern North Dakota; South Dakota snow in the north, mixed precipitation to the south; Snow for southern and central Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and most of Iowa.
Snow for northern Illinois, central and eastern Indiana, most of Ohio, all of Pennsylvania, and western, central and southern New York, snow for northern New Jersey; snow around the tri-state border of New York/Massachusetts/Vermont.
Rain and thunderstorms for south-central Texas and around Houston; rain and thunderstorms for central and southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi; rain for southern Alabama and western Georgia, with a wintry mix to the north; mixed precipitation for eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, the western Carolinas, western Virginia and all of West Virginia; rain for northern South Carolina and southern North Carolina; rain for southern Florida.
West: San Francisco 58/partly cloudy, Los Angeles 70/sunny, Reno 61/sunny, Las Vegas 69/sunny, Salt Lake City 41/rain, Denver 35/snow.
Northwest & Northern Rockies: Seattle 51/rain, Portland 56/partly cloudy, Boise 49/rain, Billings 35/mostly cloudy, Bismarck 20/mostly sunny, Rapid City 34/snow.
Southwest: Phoenix 68/sunny, Albuquerque 60/mostly sunny, El Paso 65/sunny, San Antonio 74/sunny.
Central and Upper Midwest: Kansas City 37/partly cloudy, Oklahoma City 51/partly cloudy, Lubbock 55/partly cloudy, Dallas 61/mostly sunny, Minneapolis 26/cloudy, Madison 30/cloudy.
South: Houston 73/sunny, New Orleans 61/sunny, Memphis 46/partly cloudy, Atlanta 40/partly cloudy, Charlotte 49/windy, Jacksonville 61/partly cloudy, Tampa 63/partly cloudy, Miami 76/rain.
Ohio Valley: Chicago 35/partly cloudy, St. Louis 40/rain, Detroit 30/snow, Cincinnati 36/snow.
East: Norfolk 62/windy, Washington, D.C. 61/rain, Buffalo 26/snow, New York 60/rain, Boston 56/rain, Bangor 21/snow.
