National Weather Summary for January 14,2014 from weatherunderground.com

Weather Underground midday recap for Tuesday,January 14,2014

Snow and blowing snow covered the Upper Midwest on Tuesday, while heavy rain and flooding moved into the Northeast. A strong cold front over the East continued moving eastward and stretched from the Northeast through the Mid-Atlantic states. This system created heavy rainfall with strong thunderstorms and flooding across the region. Rainfall totals ranged from 1 to 2 inches across the region, with a flood advisories issued across parts of the Northeast. Behind this system in the Midwest, a trough of low pressure strengthened as it moved over the Northern Plains and toward the Upper Midwest. This system created heavy snow with strong winds which created poor visibility and white out conditions across most of Wisconsin. Snowfall totals ranged from 3 to 7 inches across Wisconsin, thus, winter weather advisories have been issued for most of the state. The heaviest snowfall was reported at Merrillan, Wisconsin with a midday total of 8.0 inches of rain. Strong winds and cool temperatures poured in behind this system with maximum gusts up to 61 mph at St. James, MN.

Further West, high pressure over the Great Basin maintained dry and windy conditions across southern California, spreading northward across central and northern California. This allowed for dangerous fire weather conditions to persist, as gusts up to 35 mph were anticipated.