the Great Blizzard of 2019 was a severe winter storm which produced atleast 9 and a half feet of snow, the system started as Invest 98P on December 31, 2018...early on the morning of January 1 the system strengthened as it moved through by that point record low temputare Pacific waters...with some areas being as cold as -45F...the system quickly grew into a weak Nor' Easter by the afternoon hours of January 1, which lead the National Weather Service to issue a Winter Weather Advisory for all of the US west coast...early on the morning of January 2 the storm became a Category 2 (Notable) Nor' Easter and a Category 1 (Weak) Winter Storm, resulting in the NWS issuing a large Winter Storm Warning for Northwestern Oregon...it wasn't until the storm moved on shore on January 3 for the first Blizzard Watch to be issued...on January 3 the storm rapidly strengthened to a Category 2 (Notable) Winter Storm, and also achieved Category 4 (Severe) Nor' Easter status...a PDS Blizzard Watch and a Wind Chill Warning were issued from Western Idaho to Northern Iowa...the NWS SPC also highlighted a Enhanced Risk of Severe Weather with a 10% chance of tornadoes, some strong...Tornado Watch 1 was issued at 4PM on January 3 for Western Texas and Eastern New Mexico, and was related to the winter storm...a EF3 wedge caused severe damage to several structures in Armarillo, Texas...early on the morning hours of January 4 The Weather Channel named the system "Winter Storm Alex" the same name as a strong winter storm from 2016...the storm also grew into a Category 3 winter storm around this point, and a PDS Blizzard Warning was now in effect for western Iowa...later that morning a EF4 wedge tore through Hattiesburg, Mississippi...the NWS SPC issued a High Risk of Severe Thunderstorms in the 1630Z outlook with strong tornadoes and large hail being the main concerns, by the evening hours of January 4 record breaking wind speeds resulted in a upgrade to a Category 4 winter storm, while Nor' Easter status was still keeping up...Winds reported were as high as 152.7MPH (Des Moines International Airport, Iowa at 9:32:18PM Central Daylight Time) PDS Tornado Watch 8 was also issued around this point...this is a wip...
